An Interactive 5-Day Training Course
Underground Hydrogen & Gas Storage Geoscience
Storing Hydrogen and Gas Underground Safely
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Duration
5 Days
Price
$ 4,000
Starting From
03 May 2027
Home Geology and Geoscience Underground Hydrogen & Gas Storage Geoscience
Underground Hydrogen & Gas Storage Geoscience
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Underground Hydrogen & Gas Storage Geoscience - GG-H2-PEA27
| Code | Date | Time | Duration | Location | Currency | Early Bird Fee Per Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG-H2-PEA27 | 03 - 07 May 2027 | 10 AM CST | 4 Hours Per Day |
Online |
USD |
4000 |
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Underground Hydrogen & Gas Storage Geoscience
This training covers the geoscience of underground hydrogen and gas storage. It works through storage requirements and cycling duty, hydrogen properties and their consequences, storage site types including salt caverns and porous media, containment and seal requirements for hydrogen, cushion gas and working gas, microbial and geochemical reactions, hydrogen losses and their mechanisms, site screening and the monitoring of storage operations.
Description
Underground gas storage has been practised for a century; underground hydrogen storage at scale has not. The difference matters because hydrogen is a smaller molecule with much lower density and viscosity, it reacts with minerals and is consumed by microbes, and it is required to cycle far more frequently than natural gas storage because it balances intermittent renewable generation. Each of these changes the geoscience requirements, and several of them are not yet fully resolved.
This training covers both established gas storage and the hydrogen case. Storage requirements and cycling duty are established first, covering what a storage facility is required to deliver and the difference between seasonal and short-cycle duty. Hydrogen properties and their consequences follow, covering density, viscosity, diffusivity and solubility and the behaviour each produces. Storage site types are then developed, covering salt caverns, depleted fields, aquifers and lined rock caverns and their suitability for hydrogen. Containment and seal requirements for hydrogen follow, covering why a seal proven for methane is not automatically proven for hydrogen. Cushion gas and working gas are then addressed. Microbial and geochemical reactions follow. Hydrogen losses and their mechanisms are developed. Site screening follows. The training closes with monitoring.
A seal proven for methane is not automatically proven for hydrogen. Capillary sealing depends on the interfacial tension and the contact angle of the specific gas-brine-rock system as well as on the pore throat size, and the hydrogen-brine system differs from the methane-brine system. Hydrogen also diffuses through water-saturated rock faster than methane because of its small molecular size. Both effects reduce the sealing capacity, by amounts that are the subject of current measurement, and a site assessment should include seal testing with hydrogen rather than relying on the methane history.
Microbes consume hydrogen and that is a site screening issue. Several groups of subsurface microorganisms use hydrogen as an electron donor, producing methane, hydrogen sulphide or acetate depending on the available electron acceptors. The reactions are fast enough to consume a significant fraction of stored hydrogen within a storage cycle under favourable conditions, and the hydrogen sulphide product is a safety and corrosion problem. Temperature and salinity limit microbial activity, so hot and hypersaline reservoirs are safer, and screening should assess microbial potential explicitly.
Cushion gas is a large cost and for hydrogen the choice is awkward. Porous media storage requires a volume of gas that stays in the reservoir to maintain pressure, typically a substantial fraction of the total. Using hydrogen as cushion gas ties up expensive inventory; using a cheaper gas such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide risks mixing, which degrades the purity of the withdrawn hydrogen. Mixing depends on the diffusion, on the density contrast and on the flow pattern during cycling, and predicting it is a reservoir engineering problem with direct commercial consequences.
Finally, cycling frequency changes the geomechanical and operational requirements. Seasonal gas storage involves one injection and one withdrawal cycle a year; hydrogen storage balancing renewable generation may cycle weekly or faster. Frequent pressure cycling fatigues the cement and casing of wells, cycles the stress on the caprock and the faults, and may cause fines migration and permeability damage near the wellbore. The well and site design has to accommodate thousands of cycles rather than tens, which is a design standard with little precedent in petroleum operations.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Define storage requirements and distinguish seasonal from short-cycle duty
- Apply hydrogen properties and their subsurface consequences
- Compare storage site types and assess their suitability for hydrogen
- Specify seal testing requirements for hydrogen storage
- Assess containment risk including diffusive loss
- Determine cushion gas requirements and assess mixing risk
- Assess microbial and geochemical reaction potential
- Quantify hydrogen loss mechanisms
- Screen and rank candidate storage sites
- Specify monitoring for storage operations
The training works on storage site assessment using field and aquifer data sets. Participants screen candidate sites for hydrogen storage against defined criteria, assess seal capacity and microbial risk, and estimate working gas and cushion gas volumes. Existing gas storage operating data is examined for the behaviour that cycling produces.
Organisations sending participants to this training will:
- Screen storage sites for hydrogen on the correct criteria
- Avoid assuming methane seal performance applies to hydrogen
- Assess microbial and geochemical risk explicitly
- Estimate cushion gas requirements and mixing risk
- Design for high cycling frequency
- Convert petroleum assets to storage duty appropriately
Participants will:
- Understand hydrogen behaviour in the subsurface
- Assess seal capacity for hydrogen
- Screen candidate storage sites
- Estimate cushion and working gas volumes
- Assess loss and reaction mechanisms
- Work competently on storage projects
- Geoscientists working on hydrogen and gas storage
- Reservoir engineers in storage projects
- Petrophysicists supporting storage characterisation
- Well integrity staff on storage facilities
- Project staff developing storage opportunities
- Technical staff screening storage sites
- Staff converting petroleum assets to storage
Module 1 - Storage Requirements and Duty
- Purpose of underground gas storage
- Seasonal storage duty
- Peak shaving and short-cycle duty
- Hydrogen storage for renewable balancing
- Working gas and deliverability requirements
- Injection and withdrawal rate requirements
- Cycling frequency and its implications
- Purity requirements for withdrawn gas
- Facility life expectations
- Strategic and commercial storage
- Specifying storage duty for a project
Module 2 - Hydrogen Properties
- Hydrogen density at storage conditions
- Viscosity and mobility
- Compressibility and energy density
- Diffusivity in water and rock
- Solubility in brine
- Interfacial tension with brine
- Wettability and contact angle
- Relative permeability behaviour
- Hysteresis and residual trapping
- Comparison with methane and CO2
- Phase behaviour and purity effects
- Consequences for storage behaviour
Module 3 - Salt Cavern Storage
- Salt deposit types and their suitability
- Bedded and domal salt
- Cavern solution mining
- Cavern geometry and spacing
- Salt creep and cavern convergence
- Insoluble content and its effects
- Interbeds and their consequences
- Cavern integrity testing
- Operating pressure ranges
- Cycling capability of caverns
- Hydrogen suitability of salt caverns
- Existing hydrogen cavern experience
Module 4 - Porous Media Storage
- Depleted gas field storage
- Depleted oil field considerations
- Saline aquifer storage
- Reservoir quality requirements
- Thickness and continuity requirements
- Heterogeneity effects on cycling
- Structural closure requirements
- Depth and pressure considerations
- Deliverability from porous media
- Well count and configuration
- Comparison against cavern storage
- Hydrogen suitability of porous media
Module 5 - Containment and Seals
- Seal requirements for hydrogen
- Capillary entry pressure for hydrogen
- Interfacial tension and contact angle effects
- Testing seals with hydrogen
- Why methane history is insufficient
- Diffusive loss through the seal
- Diffusion rate estimation
- Seal thickness and diffusion
- Fault leakage pathways
- Legacy well integrity
- Cement and steel compatibility with hydrogen
- Hydrogen embrittlement considerations
Module 6 - Cushion Gas and Mixing
- Cushion gas function and volume
- Cushion gas fraction in porous media
- Hydrogen as cushion gas and its cost
- Alternative cushion gases
- Nitrogen and carbon dioxide as cushion
- Native gas as cushion in depleted fields
- Mixing mechanisms during cycling
- Diffusive and dispersive mixing
- Gravity segregation and its benefit
- Purity degradation prediction
- Simulation of cushion gas behaviour
- Managing purity in operations
Module 7 - Microbial and Geochemical Reactions
- Subsurface microbial communities
- Hydrogenotrophic metabolism
- Methanogenesis from hydrogen
- Sulphate reduction and hydrogen sulphide
- Acetogenesis
- Reaction rates and their controls
- Temperature limits on microbial activity
- Salinity limits
- Nutrient availability
- Mineral reactions with hydrogen
- Pyrite and iron mineral reactions
- Screening for microbial risk
Module 8 - Screening, Operations and Monitoring
- Site screening criteria for hydrogen
- Ranking candidate sites
- Data requirements for screening
- Loss mechanism quantification
- Total loss estimation over project life
- Geomechanical effects of cycling
- Well design for cyclic duty
- Fatigue and integrity management
- Operational monitoring requirements
- Inventory verification methods
- Leak detection and response
- Regulatory frameworks for storage
Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.
Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.
Frequently Asked Questions
All course bookings made through PEA are strictly non-refundable. By registering for a course, you acknowledge and accept that all fees are payable in full and are not subject to refund under any circumstances, including changes in personal or professional commitments or partial attendance.
PEA reserves the right to make reasonable adjustments to course content, trainers, or schedules where necessary, without entitling delegates to a refund. Comprehensive details of each course — including objectives, target audience, and content — are clearly outlined before enrolment, and it is the responsibility of the delegate to ensure the course's suitability prior to booking.
For any inquiries related to cancellations or bookings, please contact our support team, who will be happy to assist you.
