21SPTE410 - Project Design and Evaluation
Chapter # 5
Oil & Gas Prices – Part II
Dr. Rida Elgaddafi
Summer – 2023
Petroleum Engineering Department
Australian University - Kuwait (AU)
Outline
Introduction
Pricing of Specific Crude Oils
Natural Gas Prices
Gas Processing
Dry Gas Prices
NGL Prices
Gas Oil-Equivalent
Natural Gas Prices
Natural Gas is produces both as:
• A byproduct of oil production (Associated natural gas)
• By itself (Non-Associated natural gas)
The composition of natural gas can vary from:
• Almost 100% methane (Coal bed methane wells)
• Almost 100% CO2 (McElmo Dome Field in Colorado)
Natural Gas Prices – Cont’d
Associated and non-associated natural gas also includes
heavier hydrocarbons (C2 – C6+)
It may also include contaminant such as H2S, CO2, N2,
and He.
Natural gas is usually processed at the well or field
level to remove the water and any heavier
hydrocarbons that can be recovered as liquids by
gravity separation.
The producers have two choices when selling the
natural gas:
1. Sell it at the wellhead based on energy content
2. Send it to a gas processing plant
Natural Gas Pricing
Natural gas is prices according to energy content
known as heating value with the unit of BTU.
Dry Gas (without C3+) has a heating content
around 1000 Btu/SCF.
Wet Gas (Ex. Produced from shale oil plays) may
have a heating value as high as 1500 BTU/SCF.
Natural gas is priced by the million BTU (MMBTU)
If the gas contains 1000 BTU/SCF, then the price
per MMBTU is the same as the price per MSCF.
Natural Gas Pricing – Cont’d
If the wet gas is sold at the wellhead, the producer
receives the current price per MMBTU x MMBTU
content of the gas. ($/MMBTU*MMBTU=$ )
If the gas is liquid rich (i.e., high BTU), it is better to
enter a gas gathering and processing agreement to
separate the heavier fractions (liquids) as NGL prices
are high.
There are three major methods of separating liquids:
a) Joule Thompson
b) Refrigeration
c) Cryogenic
What doe BTU stands for
British Thermal Units
Natural Gas Pricing – Cont’d
NGL, which is a gas that have been condensed
to liquid, are worth more per BTU than C1.
If the producers sends the gas to a 3rd party
processing plant, there are three different
contracts:
1. Keep-Whole
2. Fee Based
3. Percent of Proceeds
The type of contract will have an influence on
the wellhead price of the natural gas.
Gas Processing
1. Keep-Whole
In this type of contracts, the producers receives 100% of
the MMBTU’s originally delivered to the 3rd part plant.
The producer should provide fuel for the compressors used
in the gathering systems, which is around 5% of the energy
produced from the well.
The processor keeps 100% of the NGL extracted from the
processed gas and purchases natural gas to replace the
BTU value of the extracted NGL’s.
The resulting wellhead equivalent price maybe much lower
than selling the gas under the other contracts.
Gas Processing
2. Fee Based
A fee-based processing contract means that the producer
pays a 3rd party processor a fee to process the gas.
Typically, this fee is some amount of money per inlet MCF
or MMBTU, perhaps $0.2 or $0.5 or $1.00 /MCF.
The producer receives 100% of the recovered NGL’s plus
100% of the residue gas.
Residue gas means that hydrocarbon gas consisting
principally of methane resulting from processing gas.
Gas Processing
3. Percent of Proceeds (POP)
Under this contract, the processor receives a percentage of
the proceeds received from the selling the residue gas and
the NGL in return for processing the gas.
Sometimes the % of residue gas and the % of NGL is the
same and sometimes, it is different.
For example, processor might receive 15% for both residue
and NGL and the remaining 85% goes to the producer.
Dry (Residue) Gas Prices
The price of gas is determined by the quality of the gas and
the terms for delivery.
A common usual minimum value is 1,000 BTU/CF at a
specified temperature and pressure within the contract.
The maximum water vapor content must be also specified
in the contract in terms of (lb water vapor/ MMCF)
Common limits:
CO2 < 3% N2<2% H2S<7.6 ppm
For example, if the content of CO2 is more than 3% then the
price will be cheaper because it needs more processing.
Dry gas is sold by pipeline locally or globally.
NGL Prices
NGL prices were linked to oil prices.
Gas Oil-Equivalence
It is more convenient to combine oil quantities and gas quantities.
Most companies expresses their reserves in barrels of oil equivalent.
However, oil is measured in terms of bbls, and gas is measured in terms of
SCF.
Therefore, we need to calculate the volume of gas (in MCF) that is
equivalent to one bbl.
Usually, the equivalence is based on a BTU equivalence rather than a price
equivalence.
Gas Oil-Equivalence
One bbl of 40 oAPI oil is usually assumed to be
equivalent to 5.7 MMBTU.
If gas is assumed to have 1 MMBTU per 1 MCF, it takes
5.7 MCF to be equivalent to one bbl of oil.
The results are often reported as bbl of oil equivalence
(BOE) and the 5.7 MCF is often rounded to 6 MCF.
Gas oil equivalence also can be calculated based on
price as well as volume.
Gas Oil-Equivalence – Example
If oil is sold for $100 per bbl, and gas is sold for $4/MCF,
how many MCF it takes to be equal to 1 bbl?
Another measure that could be used is the BOEc, which is
the Barrels of Oil Economic Equivalence.
The BOEc ratio changes based on oil and gas pricing.
In 2013, based on the price of oil and gas, a gas producing
country would have to have about 4 times the BOE in order
to have the same gross revenue as an oil producing country.
Example 7.3 p. 301– BOE versus BBL of
Oil Economic Equivalence
Your company is discussing the merits of two very different
investment opportunities and one of many comparisons that has
been requested by senior management is the BOE equivalent for
the resources associated with the two projects.
• One project is a Wyoming gas well that will cost $1.4 MM to
drill and complete.
• It is expected to recover 1 BCF of 1127 BTU/SCF gas net to the
company.
• The liquid gas ratio (condensate recovered at the lease) is
expected to be 8 bbls/MMCF.
• The gas is expected to sell for $3.00/MMBTU at the well and
the condensate is expected to have a sale price at the lease of
$85/bbl
Example 7.3 p. 301– BOE versus BBL
of Oil Economic Equivalence
The second project is a horizontal oil well in the Permian
basin.
• It is expected to cost $5MM to drill and complete and
to recover 170,000 bbls of oil at an average GOR of
1500 SCF/STB (net to the company).
• The oil will sell for $95/bbl.
• The net gas price is $5.88 /MSCF
Example 7.3 p. 301– Solution
Project # 1: For the Wyoming Well
The BOE for the Wyoming well is calculated as follows:
The finding and development cost is calculated as
follows:
Sounds pretty good in a $100 + oil environment
Example 7.3 p. 301– Solution – Conc.
• Now let us calculate BOEc (bbl of oil economic
equivalence) Gas price is:
$3.00/MMBTU X 1.127 MMBTU/MCF =$3.381 / MCF
• Gas to oil conversion is:
Example 7.3 p. 301– Solution – Cont’d
The finding and development cost is calculated as
follows:
This is not quite the same F&D cost. Which one do you
think is more reprehensive?
Example 7.3 p. 301– Solution – Cont’d
Project # 2: Permian Basin Well
The BOE for the Permian Basin well is calculated as follows:
The finding and development cost is calculated as follows:
The Wyoming well looks far better on BOE basis.
Example 7.3 p. 301 – Solution - Cont’d
Now let us calculate BOEc (bbl of oil economic equivalence)
Gas price is given as:
$5.88 /MSCF
Gas to oil conversion is:
Example 7.3 p. 301 – Solution – Conc.
The finding and development cost is calculated as follows:
• Maybe the Wyoming well is not that much better, in
fact, maybe it is worse depending on the ration of oil
and gas prices.
• BOE using 6 MCF/bbl is a dangerous way to compare
projects or companies that have widely different gas-
oil ratio.
Australian University - Kuwait (AU)