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Natural gas (which is of course composed primarily of methane) free takeaway capacity from West Texas is super low. Pipelines are booked solid and and 1-2 new o
by auspiv 3y ago
Natural gas (which is of course composed primarily of methane) free takeaway capacity from West Texas is super low. Pipelines are booked solid and and 1-2 new ones are being commissioned yearly (google search for 'Permian natural gas pipeline projects').
Oil/gas companies generally never want to straight up vent (i.e. release directly into the atmosphere) natural gas. It gives no economic value. However, natural gas production is an inevitable byproduct of oil production, especially in the Permian basin shale plays, which can lead to either having to shut-in your oil well, or flare, or vent.
I work for an oil/gas company that operates in the Permian. Our wells range from ~3000 standard cubic feet per barrel of oil to 10000. Some of our bigger wells produce >1000 barrels of oil per day, which corresponds to 3-10 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. We do not vent unless an emergency situation arises. Even for pigging and other procedures (blow downs, etc.), we capture the natural gas. We do flare if needed, but that is limited. Small amounts of gas gather at the top of oil tanks and rather than risk an explosion (due to lightning and other unpredictable things like that), the small amount of gas is flared. The state of TX has flare limits per day and per month on both a pad and well level.
We have also electrified a very large portion of our operations, reducing the amount of natural gas burned to generate electricity (this happens all over the basin). All of our large gathering facilities but one are electric powered. This can be a challenge with gas compressors, which have traditionally been gas powered. Gas compressors are commonly in the 1500-3000 horsepower range each, and there are 4-12 per facility. That's a lot of electricity. One facility does have a gas generator powered component, which can be used to kick-start other facilities to get things going again in case of a major, multi-facility shutdown.
Long story short - gas doesn't have a ton of value in the Permian basin. In decreasing order of preference, operators will want to 1) sell gas, 2) use it to run gas compressors or generators, 3) flare it, or 4) vent it.
Some enterprising people have constructed trailers with natural gas generators powering bitcoin miners. This option can be appealing to operators who would otherwise be flaring/venting the natural gas. Not sure of the contract commercial terms but presumably it benefits both parties. Straight up burning methane is the same whether it is via flare or generator. Both are better than venting due to the increased greenhouse gas potential of methane vs CO2.
- galangalalgol 3y agoDirect methane fuel cells are in the lab, when they hot production you'll get >90% efficiency in electricity generation. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378775322005407 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03787...
- londons_explore 3y agoUnfortunately, they will require very pure methane. Methane purification probably won't be easy to do at well sites.
- auspiv 3y agoIt's not easy to in general. Gas plants typically operate via cryogenic processes. The boiling point of ethane at standard pressure is -128.2F, so you need to get below that to get everything but the methane to liquefy. -128.2F by itself isn't terribly difficult but doing so on a highly variable flow, at a well site with questionable power, with 100% reliability will be difficult. Gas plants typically also operate above atmospheric pressure because the boiling points are higher (meaning less cooling required). That, also by itself, isn't difficult, but does add complexity and cost.
- FourHand451 3y agoThe practices you're describing largely seem sensible, but I think they are also beside the point made by the article, namely that Texas seems to emit more gas per unit of production than a neighbor. > gas doesn't have a ton of value in the Permian basin. You note this, but the assertion that selling or using the gas to run generators are top preferences for producers seems contradictory, or perhaps a bit oversimplified. If gas is abundant and has little value, I would expect there would also be little incentive to sell it when it isn't trivially easy to do so, or to store it for later use running compressors or generators. Cheap gas would mean venting or flaring are the least expensive option in more situations.
- nerdponx 3y ago