Natural Gas Production
Engineering
Chapter 1
Introduction
Prepared by: Mr Ali Abbas
Introduction
• Natural gas is a combustible mixture of hydrocarbon
gases consisting essentially of methane , other
hydrocarbons and non hydrocarbon gases in gaseous
state, which is extracted from the subsurface on the
earth in its natural state separately or together with
liquid hydrocarbons.
• Natural gas is a vital component of the world's supply
of energy. It is one of the cleanest , safest and most
useful of all energy sources.
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Introduction
Until now, natural gas provided about 23% of the total
world energy supply, and that share would certainly
increase. While coal is a solid and oil is a liquid, natural
gas is a gaseous- phase fossil fuel. It is colorless,
odorless, shapeless, and lighter than air. When burned,
it gives off about 1,000 Btu (British thermal unit) per
scf (standard cubic foot) and is used for domestic
applications such as space heating, cooking and,
increasingly, to generate electricity. It only ignites when
the air-and-gas mixture is between 5 and 15 percent
natural gas.
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When compared with coal and oil, it burns cleaner,
more efficiently, and with lower levels of potentially
harmful byproducts that are released into the
atmosphere. More important, there are very large
deposits of natural gas in the world—far more than
oil.” For these reasons, there has been a considerable
increase in new gas exploration, field development,
and production activities.
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Demand of Natural Gas
• When it comes to electrical power generation, natural gas
power burn has been increasing due to low gas prices
relative to coal. The second largest sector is within industrial
usage. Natural gas is used as raw material to produce
fertilizer, chemicals, and hydrogen.
• Residential and commercial sector utilize gas as a fuel for
heating or cooling purposes. Natural gas suppliers are
usually insulated from short-term fluctuations through
existing tariffs. The transportation sector accounts for a
small amount of natural gas used as vehicle fuel from
liquefied natural gas or LNG.
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• The world consumes 132,290,211 million cubic feet
(MMcf) of natural gas per year as of the year 2017.
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Natural Gas Origins and Accumulations
• It is commonly accepted that natural gas, like oil,
has been generated from organic debris that have
been deposited in geologic time and have been
embedded along with inorganic matter at a
considerable depth below today’s surface. Over
time (tens to hundreds of millions of years),
because of compaction, high pressure, and
temperature, the organic material gradually
became coal, oil, or natural gas.
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• Because natural gas and oil are found with water,
and because they are less dense, they would rise
vertically, including all the way to the atmosphere.
Much has escaped over time and continues to this
day. However, if a vertical barrier is encountered
(cap rock), it stops the migration and confines gas-
in-place. Therefore, for natural gas to accumulate,
three things have to be present: the source rock
(compacted organic materials) for the creation of
natural gas; the porous media (reservoir) to
accommodate the created gas; and the
impermeable rock on top to trap the gas inside the
porous rock-reservoir.
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Different types of trapping mechanisms are shown
below Figure:
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Types of Natural Gas Resources
• Natural gases can be classified as conventional natural gas , gas in
tight sands, gas in tight shales, coal-bed methane and gas
hydrates.
• Conventional natural gas is either associated or non-associated
gas. Associated or dissolved gas is found with crud oil. Dissolved
gas is that portion of the gas dissolved in the crude oil and
associated gas (Gas-Cap) is free gas in contact with the crude oil.
All crude oil reservoirs contain dissolved gas and may or may not
contain associated gas. Non-associated gas found in reservoir that
contains a minimal quantity of crude oil. Some gases are called
gas condensates or simply condensates. Although they occur as
gases in underground reservoirs, they have a high content of
hydrocarbon liquids.
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Non-associated Gas
These are reservoirs that contain almost entirely natural
gas at reservoir conditions. They are generally found at
greater depth. If the fluid at the surface still remains gas,
then it is called “dry gas.” If the surface pressures cause
some liquid hydrocarbons to evolve, it is called a “wet
gas” reservoir. It must be emphasized that while non-
associated gas reservoirs are likely to be found at
greater depths, upward migration from the source rock,
in geologic time, can result in shallow gas reservoirs,
and in some cases, such as the Arctic, the cap rock may
be the permafrost.
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Associated Gas
Almost all oil reservoirs except those classified as extra
heavy or tars will produce some natural gas at the
surface. Oil will not be shipped in a commercial pipeline
or a tanker with gas still in the solution. The term stock
tank oil, which is used both as a measure for oil well
performance and in commercial pricing of oil, means that
all associated gas has been stripped from the liquid at
one atmosphere pressure. The gas thus liberated is
known as “associated gas.”
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Unconventional Gas
The term unconventional gas is widely used, but it refers more
to the geological setting and rock type rather than to the gas
itself(Oil and natural gas trapped in less permeable rocks ),
which is nearly all methane. When the term was coined, it
implied that these reservoirs presented operational or
economic challenges, or both, which would not be ordinarily
found in conventional reservoirs.
The most common, “tight gas,” formed in sandstones or
carbonates, refers to low-permeability formations with
permeability less than 1 md and often as low as 0.001 md. In
such “tight” reservoirs, it is essentially not possible for much
of the gas to flow naturally
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Coalbed methane (CBM) refers to methane gas
that is found adsorbed in many buried coalbed
deposits. Wells drilled in these deposits are
hydraulically fractured and allow for the production
of desorbed methane. In 2007, about 9% of US
natural gas was produced from CBM.
Finally, Shale gas is natural gas trapped in shale
rock. Because these reservoirs have virtually no
permeability, the choice of well completions has
been horizontal wells with multiple hydraulic
fractures.
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Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
Most natural gas is transported from the wellhead to a
processing plant, and thereafter, to consumers in high
pressure gas transmission pipelines. The much lower
physical volume of liquefied natural gas (LNG) relative to
gaseous natural gas can reduce transportation costs by allowing
delivery using cargo ships or transport trucks instead of
pipelines.
The properties of LNG (one volume unit of LNG yields 600 units
of standard gas volume) allow for its long distance transport by
ships across oceans to markets and for its local distribution by
truck onshore as well as to provides the opportunity to store
the fuel for use during high consumption periods.
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The LNG Process
An example of a LNG plant overall flow diagram
and the main process units are shown in Figure
6–1. Typically, the feed gas is delivered at high
pressure (for example, up to 1,300 psi) from
upstream gas fields via trunk lines and any
associated condensate will be removed.
The gas is metered and is pressure controlled to
the design operating pressure of the LNG plant.
The gas treatment process take place first in order to
remove all impurities from the gas before
refrigeration process.
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After gas treatment The gas is made up mainly of
methane and contains less than 0.1 mol% of pentane
and heavier hydrocarbons, By heat-exchange
between the gas and the refrigerant the gas is
further cooled in the cryogenic section to
approximately –160°C and is completely liquefied.
Flashed vapors and boil off gas are recycled within
the process.
Usually the raw feed will be taken as 25°C and 40 bar,
and the product LNG (liquid methane) at 4 bar
and –150°C.
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The liquefaction process is the key element of the
LNG plant. Liquefaction is based on a refrigeration
cycle, where a refrigerant by means of successive
expansion and compression, transports heat from
the process side to where the natural gas is.
Refrigerant used such as :Propane Precooled Mixed
Refrigerant (PPMR)
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