In the course of marine transport, necessary land storage requires double-walled tanks with special insulation. Such tanks may have unit volumes of as much as 50,000 cubic metres (1,766,000 cubic feet). The low temperatures attained require the use of special steels with a high nickel content or aluminum-base alloys. Because the problem of heat loss is less important at ports of arrival, where the liquid gas has to be vaporized, frozen-earth tanks, consisting of enormous holes dug in the ground and made leakproof by freezing the groundwater, are used.
Storage facilities on a more extensive scale have been created by using depleted oil or gas reservoirs near consumption centres (northeastern United States, northern Italy), or by the creation of artificial gas fields in aquifer layers. The latter technique developed rapidly, and the number of storage facilities of this type in the United States has increased tremendously since 1950. There are a number of such underground storage areas in France, Germany, and the U.S.S.R.
COMPREHENSION CHECK
I. Translate into Russia
usable, extremely rich, to contain, varying proportions, conform to standards of use, to recover, series of treatment, expansion, to remove, rich absorbation oil, purified condensate, major consumption centres, to install, to depend, gas pipelines, technological advances, long-distance transportation, constant flow rate, capacity
II. Make up word combination
1. natural a) rich
2. extremely b) syste
3. commercial c) plants
4. successive d) gas
5. control e) form
6. transportation f) pressure
7. liquid g) specifications
8. high h) rate
9. regular i) intervals
10.circulation g) operations
III. Study the definitions
Gas – air-like substansce.
Standard – something used as a test or measure for weight, lengths, qualities or for required degree of excellence.
Expansion – expanding or being expanded; enlargement
Elimination – putting away, getting rid of (because unnecessary or unwanted).
Consumption – using up, consuming (of food, energy, materials, etc).