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Over 250 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in roughly 2,200 fields are stranded without market
access. Less than a hundred of these fields contain the minimum 5 to 6 Tcf of gas needed to
justify a massive LNG complex. They simply wait unbooked.
As oil exploration broadens to more remote locations onshore and greater depths offshore, more
and more natural gas is being discovered. Some is associated with oil; other reserves are isolated.
Due to geological, political and other barriers, much of this gas is unconnected to pipelines and will
remain so for many decades.
According to a recent estimate, almost 5,000 significant reservoirs of natural gas have been found
worldwide. More discoveries are being added as exploration continues in Latin America, offshore
west Africa, in south Asia, in the subsalt regions of the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Arctic Ocean
and sub-Arctic seas. Most of these new discoveries - about half of the world's reserves - are
inaccessible to pipelines and too small for massive LNG complexes. Without a viable market, the
gas becomes a costly nuisance that must be flared, reinjected or plugged when leases expire.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Many companies are rushing to change this, however. They are pushing ahead new technologies to
recover the value of remote gas reserves. These technologies include gas-to-liquids conversion,
offshore liquefaction, electric-power generation, fertilizer, methanol and MTBE production, and
local grassroots pipeline networks.
Perhaps none of these technologies is attracting more attention currently than gas-to-liquids (GTL)
conversion. Companies such as Exxon, Shell, Sasol, Mitsubishi and Statoil are independently
devising refining techniques to convert natural gas into super-clean diesel fuel, kerosene, naphtha
and high-value petrochemical products. Because these fuels are made from natural gas, they are
very pure and therefore offer environmental benefits over conventional crude oil-derived fuels.
Exxon has recently announced that it is evaluating building its first full-scale gas-to-liquids plant in
Qatar in the Middle East. Texaco, Marathon and others are working with Oklahoma-based
Syntroleum Corporation to apply similar technology to gas fields with reserves as small as 500
billion cubic feet. Air Products and Chemicals heads a consortium, including the U.S. Energy
Department, to devise ways to improve syngas production. Many others, including Haldor Topsoe
and Amoco, are also investigating GTL technologies.
Taking a different approach, Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries (IHI), SN Technigaz, BHP
and other offshore engineering and construction firms are designing floating and fixed platforms to
cool and liquefy natural gas (LNG). Their strategy is to reduce capital costs of conventional LNG
schemes so that smaller and more remote offshore reserves can be recovered. IHI has recently
completed the world's first floating storage offloading (FSO) vessel for liquefied petroleum gas,
which it reports the technology can be applied to LNG.
Meanwhile, other technologies such as anhydrous ammonia production, well-head electricity
production (gas-to-wire), and methanol and MTBE production, go hand-in-hand with new
catalyst developments to make technical advances so that more gas can be recovered. Producers
who hold very large natural gas reserves will benefit greatly if they can develop higher-value
downstream applications for their stranded gas reserves. Malaysia's Petronas, for example, has
embarked on a plan to boost the value of their gas by investing in gas-to-methanol-to-MTBE
conversion technologies.
OUR OBJECTIVE
There is a need for objective reporting on the competing technologies for getting stranded gas
reserves to market. Much attention is being focused in this area with several technologies racing
for footholds in this potentially enormous application. Join us in our exploration of this exciting and
what promises to be rewarding area.
Robert Nimocks
Publisher, Remote Gas Strategies
President, Zeus Development Corporation
Gas-to-Liquids Could Provide Two to Three Percent of
Refinery Output by 2005
Refineries produce some 76 million barrels per day (bpd) of products currently. By 2005, refinery
output is expected to be some 90 million bpd and gas-to-liquids plants could be contributing two
million to three million bpd, according to Doug Terreson, domestic and international oil analyst,
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.
Full article in the Remote Gas Strategies December 1997 newsletter. For details on this
and related news, subscribe to Remote Gas Strategies. $395 per annum
Gas-to-Liquids Could Provide Two to Three Percent of
Refinery Output by 2005
Refineries produce some 76 million barrels per day (bpd) of products currently. By 2005, refinery
output is expected to be some 90 million bpd and gas-to-liquids plants could be contributing two
million to three million bpd, according to Doug Terreson, domestic and international oil analyst,
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.
Full article in the Remote Gas Strategies December 1997 newsletter. For details on this
and related news, subscribe to Remote Gas Strategies.
$415-Million Estimate for Once-Through, 8,820-bpd
Fischer-Tropsch Plant with Co-generation
Under a Department of Energy (DOE) contract, Bechtel Technology and Consulting, San
Francisco, and Joe Fox, a consultant, along with Syncrude Technology, Inc. (STI), Pittsburgh,
developed a conceptual design and cost estimate for an 8,820-barrel-per-day (bpd),
once-through, Fischer-Tropsch plant and a combined-cycle power plant.
Full article in the Remote Gas Strategies December 1997 newsletter. For details on this
and related news, subscribe to Remote Gas Strategies.
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