The American Petroleum Institute (API) has put forth a pair of recommendations to the standards for natural gas storage facilities that guide federal and state inspections and are aimed at ensuring safety and reliability.

Recommended Practice (RP) 1170 – Design and Operation of Solution-mined Salt Caverns Used for Natural Gas Storage – provides guidance for salt cavern facilities used for natural gas storage.

The update to RP 1170 strengthens guidance on storage integrity, public safety and environmental protection, according to API. The revisions were spread across the engineering and geological technical aspects of storage well and cavern integrity, along with the non-technical topics of site security, safety, training and procedures, it said. The RP also includes...