Hydrocarbon Seepage Prediction and Control for Crude Oil Storage Unlined Rock Caverns

What is it about?

Seepage control is a prerequisite for hydrocarbon storage in unlined rock caverns (URCs) where the seepage of stored products to the surrounding host rock and groundwater can cause serious environmental and financial problems. Practically seepage control is performed by permeability and hydrodynamic control methods.

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Why is it important?

In this paper prediction equations for the hydrocarbons (crude oil and gas) seepage value from the Iranian URCs in terms of m3/24 hr are represented using genetic programming based on the data gathered by numerical modelling of the hydrocarbon seepage for a variety of conditions using COMSOL and the two-phase mixture model formulation (see Supplementary Material available online at https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/6803294). By applying and solving the proposed equations for the seepage values less than the allowable one, prejudgment can be done and the seepage control technique (e.g., permeability or hydrodynamic control) can be selected.