CompactGTL is doing some interesting work on small modular GTL plants to deal with associated gas from oil production.
Experts from recent JPT article:
compactgtl.com
So what becomes of the next generation
of smaller oil fields, where there
will not be sufficient gas volumes to justify
these large investments? Ironically,
the smaller the gas volumes, the more
difficult the problem they present. This
counterintuitive fact has led to the
idea of “distressed gas,” where an oil
field cannot be developed because no
economic means exist to dispose of the
small quantities of associated gas.
......This situation leaves the industry with
a huge dilemma. CompactGTL (CGTL),
a UK-based company, has devoted 5
years to finding an answer and recently
has developed a proprietary GTL
technology that converts the distressed
associated gas to synthetic crude oil
(syncrude) at the point of production.
The syncrude, which is unrefined, can
be blended back into the field’s main
crude stream, with no need for separate
storage and transportation. This contrasts
with other technologies, such as
LNG and methanol production, where
the small volumes of these liquids must
be stored, transported, and marketed
separately from the oil and, thus, require
their own parallel infrastructure.
Unlike other GTL companies, CGTL
is not primarily concerned with gas
monetization. Instead, the company has
focused on providing a solution to the
distressed-gas problem so that oilfield
development can move forward more
rapidly and economically. The equipment
also is designed to be integrated
into a floating production, storage, and
offloading (FPSO) vessel or to be set up
as a standalone onshore facility.
The technology is modular, allowing
it to be matched to an oil field’s declining
production. Modular reactors are based
on a standardized unit that can produce
200 B/D of syncrude from approximately
2 MMscf/D of gas. For the case
given above, 15 MMscf/D of gas would
require seven reactor modules placed in
parallel within a manifold, which would
produce 1,500 B/D of syncrude. As the
field production declines, reactors are
taken offline so that there remain only
six, then five, then four parallel reactors,
and so on, to match the declining
gas production. This granularity is
fundamental to the concept and differs
markedly from conventional GTL
designs, where single mega-reactors are
used to achieve economies of scale. The
problem with these mega-reactors is
that they have limited turndown and so
require a constant gas supply.
As usual, Dennis has already been covering this company. Seems they had a nasty gas explosion in January 2008.
Subject 56062
Message 24230899 |
