Greenhouse Gas Reduction Credits to Be Discussed at Natural Gas Flaring Conference
Nov. 1, 2002, Houston - Kedin Kilgore, international environmental markets manager at Natsource LLC, a leading environmental commodities firm, will discuss the future of tradable greenhouse-gas emission reduction credits Wednesday, Dec. 4, in Houston at the Monetizing Stranded Gas Reserves conference.
The oil and gas industry is vigorously working to reduce the flaring of some 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually that is produced in association with oil.
Natsource and the World Bank have recently completed a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Market analysis, which determined that between 2001 and June 2002 greenhouse gas market activity increased significantly over the previous five years. Their research anticipates a further three-fold increase in volume this year.
"The progress made in recent international negotiations and trading systems developed by counter parties are driving demand," said Kilgore. "The first trades of compliance tools in Denmark and the United Kingdom have been important developments."
Tradable credits are part of an international cap-and-trade approach to reducing global GHG emissions. Kilgore notes that continued development of trading systems at the regional level, such as the system being developed by the EU, will further increase activity.
"Emission reduction credits could accelerate the development of non-flare technologies for managing associated gas," said Bob Nimocks, president of Zeus Development Corporation, the host of the conference.
"In many offshore locations, oil producers are faced with significant increases in production costs if flaring is ruled out, so credits may be a way to offset this cost."
When flared, one cubic meter of natural gas will produce about 1.9 kilograms of CO2, according to EPA estimates.
In West Africa, it's not uncommon to see 30 cubic meters (1,000 cubic feet) of gas produced with each barrel of oil, and the region produces some four million barrels daily.
The purpose of the conference is to examine non-flare alternatives and strategies for managing this type of gas.
Current participants include ABB, Air Products and Chemicals, Allseas, Alstom Power, Anadarko, Atlantic Canada, BP, Chiyoda, CRP Group, Det Norske Veritas, Enbridge, Enersea Transport, Foster Wheeler, Gas Utilization Research Forum, Jacobs Engineering, John Zink, Merzbach Group, Process Technical Services, Robert Gordon University, Shell Exploration & Production, Shell Gas & Power, Statoil, Stolt Offshore, Transcanada, Unocal, Williams, and Worley Engineers.
For more information, see www.remotegasstrategies.com/msgr2002 or contact Mark Voss, 832-200-3701 (mvoss@zeusdevelopment.com).
Shell, BP, Statoil, World Bank among Speakers at Conference on Market-Based Alternatives to Flaring Natural Gas
September 26, 2002, Houston - Several major oil companies will describe in this year's Monetizing Stranded Gas Reserves conference, Dec. 4-6 in Houston, their attitudes towards phasing out flaring and strategies to build markets for associated gas products.
Interest in non-flare alternatives is growing as producers try to extinguish flares, which are estimated to waste some four trillion cubic feet (one hundred billion meters) of gas annually and contribute more than one percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.
"Market-based approaches to manage associated gas have both short-term and long-term implications," said Bob Nimocks, president of Zeus Development Corporation, the energy research firm that is organizing the conference.
"From a short-term perspective, a growing list of integrated oil companies are self-imposing deadlines to halt flaring. Faced with reinjection costs, these companies very much want to find more economical means to manage the gas that is unavoidably produced with oil. One of the features presentations will be on public-private partnership created by the World Bank, Shell, BP, Norway and others to reduce flaring.
"From a long-term perspective, most oil companies see natural gas as a core business. Markets are growing and prices are attractive, so gas has both a supply push and market pull to drive market-based associated-gas-management technologies forward."
According to world estimates, roughly 15 trillion cubic feet or about 20 percent of world demand is flared, vented or reinjected. This gas is especially attractive to proponents of CNG, deepwater pipelines, LNG, gas-to-wire, GTL, hydrates and other transport technologies because the expense of finding, producing and gathering the feed gas has been borne by the oil.
The challenge is to design technology that can get the gas from the remote locations where the oil is produced, often in deepwater, to vibrant markets, Nimocks said.
Following the oil company presentations, the conference will feature a series of sessions to discuss each of these technologies in depth. Organizers will then feature an Associated Gas Management Solutions Fair to present specific designs, analytical tools and other services intended to enhance strategies for gas management. A final report of the conclusions of the conference and comparisons of the technologies will be mailed to participants afterwards.
See www.remotegasstrategies.com/msgr2002 For more information, contact Mark Voss, Zeus Development Corporation, 832-200-3701 or via email, mvoss@zeusdevelopment.com.
PLEASE NOTE: After discussions with several clients, we are reassessing the approach for our Gas-to-Wire Joint Industry Project to better tailor it to current industry needs. We will discuss this further during a session, entitled "Gas-to-Wire: The Opportunities Created by High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC), Fuel Cells and Compact Combined-Cycle Technologies" at our Monetizing Stranded Gas Reserves Conference, Dec. 4-6, at Omni Houston Hotel Westside.
If you are interested in the JIP and would like to attend only this session of the conference, please contact Mark Voss emailto: mvoss@zeusdevelopment.com who can organize a pass.
Introduction :
Used extensively in the North Sea, high voltage direct current (HVDC) is being applied increasingly around the world to connect isolated power-generation - in many cases fired by natural gas - to distant markets. ABB alone has completed some 32 HVDC projects. The next, which will be commissioned in 2003, will transmit 3.0 gigawatts of power 890 kilometers from the massive Three Gorges hydroelectric dam on the Yangzte River to Changzhou. An even longer HVDC line transmits 2.0 gigawatts 1,480 kilometers from Quebec to New England.
Last year, such energy companies as Norsk Hydro began moving commercial power plants onto offshore oil production platforms to generate electricity for commercial markets from associated gas. This is creating new applications for HVDC cables. According to a report from Norway's Centre for Technological Education and Research (NTNU), Alstom Power, Sintef and Norsk Hydro have designed and built three offshore combined-cycle gas-turbine power plants, located on the Oseberg Field Centre, Eldfisk and Snorre B offshore installations. Each transmits electricity to markets via undersea cables. The plants use Alstom's compact combined-cycle technology for the tight confines of the offshore environment.
According to a report from Norway's Centre for Technological Education and Research (NTNU), gas-fired generating units have been installed aboard this Snorre B platform and two other Norwegian offshore installations for transmission onshore via undersea cables. Photo: Norsk Hydro (http://www.ntnu.no/gemini/2001-06E/12.htm).
The U.K. has also issued a gas-production license for a fourth generation project in the eastern Irish Sea. Management of offshore oil platforms have long produced 20 megawatts to 40 megawatts of electricity to supply power onboard, but seldom has the power been transmitted from floating gas-fired power plants to onshore markets. Designers now envision modifying platforms to consume as much as one-third billion cubic feet of gas per day to transmit 1.0 gigawatts of direct current for distances as great as 1,500 nautical miles. Over a twenty-five year life such a project would consume reserves of 3.2 trillion cubic feet.
This type of technology is just what a new partnership created by the World Bank, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Sonatrach and the nation of Norway to end the flaring of some 10 billion cubic feet of associated gas per day worldwide would like to see. Associated gas flares, according to the World Bank, contribute more than one percent of global greenhouse emissions. The partnership, entitled Global Gas Flaring Reduction Public-Private Partnership, will encourage the development of market-based solutions, "including the power generation industry," to motivate energy producers to market their gas rather than flare or vent it to atmosphere.
In this multi-client study, Zeus Development Corporation will investigate the potential of HVDC gas-to-wire technology as a commercial associated-gas-management alternative, evaluating issues that may lead to its greater application offshore. By using a joint-industry research approach, Zeus will leverage the resources, management talent and expertise of the companies interested in this area to provide a higher quality assessment for less cost to all participants.
Already, some large electricity consumers, such as the aluminum industry, are showing a preference for gas-fired power generation over hydroelectric sources. State-of-the-art smelters are being built in Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, Trinidad and other gas-rich regions to take advantage of low-cost combined-cycle gas-turbine (CCGT) power. The industry consumes on average 15,000 to 16,000 kilowatt-hours of direct current to produce one metric ton of aluminum.
Zeus will assess electric markets to learn where HVDC gas-to-wire technology has the greatest advantage and compare it to other associated-gas-management alternatives, such as LNG, undersea pipelines, CNG and re-injection, so producers can assess where its application is most economical. Should offshore HVDC gas-to-wire technology prove attractive, numerous private companies and non-profit and governmental organizations will benefit.
remotegasstrategies.com
point of interest:
I noticed that Enbridge will be attending. |
