Method and system for determining an amount of a liquid energy commodity in storage in an underground cavern

1. A method for determining an amount of a liquid energy commodity in storage in an underground cavern based on an estimation of a volume of a brine in a brine pond associated with the underground cavern, comprising the steps of:

establishing a volume function for the brine pond based on physical contours of the brine pond, and storing the volume function in a database;

acquiring an image of the brine pond at a subsequent time;

transmitting the acquired image to a central processing facility;

analyzing, by a processor of a computer system, the acquired image to calculate a depth of the brine in the brine pond;

estimating, by the processor of the computer system, the volume of the brine in the brine pond based on the calculated depth and using the volume function stored in the database;

determining, by the processor of the computer system, the amount of the liquid energy commodity in storage in the underground cavern associated with the brine pond based on the estimated volume of the brine in the brine pond; and

communicating information about the amount of the liquid energy commodity in storage to a third-party market participant.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , in which the liquid energy commodity is crude oil.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , in which the liquid energy commodity is natural gas liquids.

4. A method for determining a volume of a liquid in a pond, comprising the steps of:

establishing a volume function for the pond based on physical contours of the pond, and storing the volume function in a database;

acquiring, an image of the pond at a subsequent time;

transmitting the acquired image to a central processing facility;

identifying a first contour in the acquired image at or near a top edge of the pond;

identifying a second contour in the acquired image representative of a level of the liquid in the pond;

determining, by a processor of a computer system, an average distance between the first contour and the second contour;

calculating, by the processor of the computer system, a depth of the liquid in the pond based on the average distance;

estimating, by the processor of the computer system, the volume of the liquid in the pond based on the calculated depth and using the volume function stored in the database; and

communicating information about the volume of the liquid in the pond to a third-party market participant.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein the step of establishing the volume function includes the sub-steps of:

using a camera to acquire an image of the pond in a substantially empty state;

tracing two or more contours over the acquired image;

digitizing the two or more contours into X-Y coordinates;

calculating an area bounded by each of the two or more contours;

determining the depth for each of the two or more contours; and

calculating an area function as a function of the determined depth.

6. A method for determining a volume of a liquid in a pond, wherein a volume function stored in a memory component provides an estimate of a volume of the liquid in the pond as a function of a depth of the liquid in the pond, comprising the steps of:

using a camera to acquire an image of the pond;

using a computer system to

(a) identify a first contour in the acquired image at or near a top edge of the pond,

(b) identify a second contour in the acquired image representative of a level of the liquid in the pond,

(c) determine an average distance between the first contour and the second contour by making a number of discrete measurements between the first contour and the second contour,

(d) calculate a depth of the liquid in the pond based on the average distance, and

(e) estimate a volume of the liquid in the pond based on the calculated depth and using, the volume function; and

using the computer system to communicate information about the volume of the liquid in the pond to a third-party market participant.

7. A method in a computer system for determining a volume of a liquid in a pond, comprising the steps of:

storing in a memory of the computer system a slope of a wall of the pond as a function of a location on a perimeter of the pond;

storing in the memory of the computer system a volume function for determining a volume of the pond as a function of a depth of the pond;

at a later time, receiving into the memory of the computer system a digital image of the pond containing an unknown amount of the liquid;

processing, by a processor of the computer system, the digital image to determine a first contour representing a top edge of the pond in the digital image and a second contour representing a level of the liquid of the pond in the digital image;

determining, by the processor of the computer system, an average distance between the first contour and the second contour from a predetermined number of discrete measurements;

determining, by the processor of the computer system, and based on the average distance and the slope of the wall of the pond, a depth of the liquid in the pond; and

estimating, by the processor of the computer system, and based on the depth of the liquid and the volume function, the volume of the liquid in the pond.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , and further comprising the steps of:

storing in the memory of the computer system a first digitized contour representing a bottom of the pond, a second digitized contour representing a maximum level of the pond, and a third digitized contour representing the top edge of the pond; and

upon receiving into the memory of the computer system the digital image of the pond containing the unknown amount of the liquid, transforming, by the processor of the computer system, using a generalized coordinate transform on the first contour to scale, shear, and rotate the first contour to match the third digitized contour representing the top edge of the pond which was previously stored in the memory of the computer system, and then applying the generalized coordinate transform to the second contour.