Underground Storage

Natural or artificial cavities underneath the Earth’s surface are used for the storage of gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons or for the disposal of waste materials.

Caverns are artificial cavities that are constructed within rock salt formations by solution mining (leaching). Structures suitable for cavern construction are either thick, laterally extensive rock salt layers or salt domes, which may extend down to several thousand meters in depth. Such formations are found all over the world.

Using highly sophisticated technology, depths of up to 3,000 m are made accessible and cavern diameters of 60 to 100 m, heights of several hundred meters, and geometrical volumes of 800,000 m³ and more can be realized today.