EIA survey pinpoints growth of gas storage. (Energy Information Administration)

Underground gas storage is being used in new ways as U.S. storage operators add capacity and develop new services to keep pace with regulatory change, an Energy Information Administration survey shows.

The survey shows gas storage customers still are using available working gas capacity mostly to aggregate market area supplies to serve short term demand swings. But the role of storage in U.S. interstate gas markets generally is expanding as storage customers and service providers adopt more flexible strategies better suited to an unbundled, open access environment (OGJ, Oct. 25, 1993, p. 21).

EIA found that most new uses of LI.S. gas storage have cropped up since 1985 when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued Order 436. That evolution is expected to continue under FERC's Order 636, issued in April 1992 …