Project Facilities

El Paso plans to solution mine four caverns in the Picacho bedded salt. Each cavern will be from a depth of approximately 2,300’ below the surface to 3,000’ below the surface and approximately 200’ in diameter. For more on the caverns design and construction please see the animations in the Gas Storage Operations page.

The project site will contain water and brine pumping equipment and brine settling ponds for the solution mining of the caverns. Each cavern well will have a well head with emergency shut down valves and individual well measurement to allow for accurate per cavern inventory data. Subsurface safety valves will be located in each cavern well bore that will be capable of sealing in the stored gas in the event of an problem at the surface. The caverns will be connected to the central plant facility by a gas, water and brine gathering system.

Approximately 9 miles of 30” diameter steel pipeline will be required to connect the Arizona Gas Storage facility to El Paso Natural Gas’s interstate natural gas transmission network to allow the gas to move the gas markets in Phoenix and Tucson. The site will contain gas compressors housed in buildings to pump the natural gas into the caverns during periods of low demand. Gas dehydration will be installed to remove any water from the gas on the withdrawal from the caverns. The facility will also contain offices, maintenance facilities and a control room for the operation of the storage facility.

The facilities will be secured with fencing and designed to blend with the surroundings, compatible with plans for area growth and economic development.