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Discuss this article (0 Comments)SOGAT focus
by ArabianBusiness.com staff writer on Sunday, 15 March 2009
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Gas scarcity coupled with growing energy demands has thrust sour gas developments and carbon sequestration to the fore across the region.
This month the world's leading thinkers and companies in the field of sour gas processing converge on Abu Dhabi for the annual Sour Oil & Gas Advanced Technology conference, anticipated to be the biggest and most successful gathering yet.
The location is strategic, as Abu Dhabi is on the cusp of developing one of the largest and most challenging sour gas reserves in the world. However, the significance for the wider regional market is huge, with potentially giant reserves in Saudi Arabia, and sour developments being carried out in Iran.
What we are trying to project through SOGAT 2009 is that we have pumps which can handle this H2S and CO2 in liquid form” Sriram Iyer, LEWA.
In the UAE Soaring domestic demand coupled with unflappable economic ambition has thrown the development of the region's most challenging hydrocarbon resource front and centre. Abu Dhabi's sour gas development, after many years of discussion, was finally made concrete in July 2008, with pen going to paper when ConocoPhillips secured the project.
The project is technically challenging, the resource is highly sour, and the need for development is great.
Although there are several factors that combine to explain the timing of the development, the driving one is the growing need for domestic electricity generation feedstock.
The UAE as a country, and the region as a whole, is facing a genuine gas-crunch. Unthinkable just a decade ago, but a reality all the same, the Middle East is running low on fuel to support its industrial and residential needs. With economic growth outpacing even the fastest growing nations outside of the region, development is rampant, and with that economic success comes an insatiable appetite for power.
"The timing question can be summed up in two words," says Nick Coles, founder of the Sour Oil & Gas Advanced Technology conference and exhibition (SOGAT). "Sheer necessity. Abu Dhabi alone expects to triple its resident population in the coming decades and power generating capacity has to be stepped up at least to keep pace."
The fact that the UAE, a country blessed with enormous conventional hydrocarbon reserves, is looking seriously at the construction of nuclear power plants, two as of October, highlights how significant that need for extra power is. On top of fuelling the country's commercial interests comes a huge demand for desalination, a colossal drain on electricity capacity region-wide.
The UAE holds the world's fifth largest gas reserves, the majority concentrated in Abu Dhabi, and much of that is extremely sour. The Shah Field, recently scooped by ConocoPhillips, and the open Bab Field are both among the most sour reserves considered recoverable, with an H2S content around 30%. To put that into context, Qatar's vast North Field is sour, but only 5% H2S.
Tech talk
Who: Sriram Iyer, LEWA
The Abu Dhabi development project is really exciting, and is in an advanced stage of being finalised. It entails is a huge investment to remove the H2S and CO2. The main reason natural gas hasn't been exploited more to date in the UAE is that it is so sour. The amount of H2S is significantly lower in Qatar. But in the UAE now they have come to a stage where it is worth the money.
What we are trying to project through SOGAT 2009 is that we have pumps which can handle this H2S and CO2 in liquid form. When these two gases are pressurised to around 80 bar they become liquid, and handling it as liquid is much more efficient than in a highly pressurised gaseous state. Firstly the volume is around 150 times less. Once you have it at high pressure it's easier to inject it back into the field. Reinjecting it also takes care of the environmental concern. Putting it back into the well also has associated advantages such as helping to maintain well-pressure.
Sour gas emerges as a mixture of low-boiling liquids to gas, or condensates. These condensates can be easily removed and pumped out. As the gas is extracted it has to go to a sweetening plant, like an amine sweetening process. The amine circulation requires specialised pumps.
Handling sour gas requires special materials, which drives the price much higher than sweet gas processing. Because of this we have only really started exploiting very sour reserves fairly recently, compared to sweeter, more conventional gas deposits.
Removing H2S from the gas produces by-products, such as
sulphur. In the good old days sulphur was expensive, and this could be sold downstream to the fertiliser sector. Now there is arguably a glut of sulphur in world markets and the price has fallen considerably .
Over a period of years excess sulphur would be a significant problem, so putting it back into the well seems the smart option.
This is a perfect use for some of the bigger LEWA pumps.
There are issues of safety to consider too. With a centrifugal pump the pump can do the job adequately, but there is an increased risk of fugitive emissions. If there is a seal failure then this poses a major HSE issue. Diaphragm pumps takes care of these issues perfectly, and we're very interested in marketing these to the interesting projects around the Gulf.
Who: Sriram Iyer, LEWA
The Abu Dhabi development project is really exciting, and is in an advanced stage of being finalised. It entails is a huge investment to remove the H2S and CO2. The main reason natural gas hasn't been exploited more to date in the UAE is that it is so sour. The amount of H2S is significantly lower in Qatar. But in the UAE now they have come to a stage where it is worth the money.
What we are trying to project through SOGAT 2009 is that we have pumps which can handle this H2S and CO2 in liquid form. When these two gases are pressurised to around 80 bar they become liquid, and handling it as liquid is much more efficient than in a highly pressurised gaseous state. Firstly the volume is around 150 times less. Once you have it at high pressure it's easier to inject it back into the field. Reinjecting it also takes care of the environmental concern. Putting it back into the well also has associated advantages such as helping to maintain well-pressure.
Sour gas emerges as a mixture of low-boiling liquids to gas, or condensates. These condensates can be easily removed and pumped out. As the gas is extracted it has to go to a sweetening plant, like an amine sweetening process. The amine circulation requires specialised pumps.
Handling sour gas requires special materials, which drives the price much higher than sweet gas processing. Because of this we have only really started exploiting very sour reserves fairly recently, compared to sweeter, more conventional gas deposits.
Removing H2S from the gas produces by-products, such as
sulphur. In the good old days sulphur was expensive, and this could be sold downstream to the fertiliser sector. Now there is arguably a glut of sulphur in world markets and the price has fallen considerably .
Over a period of years excess sulphur would be a significant problem, so putting it back into the well seems the smart option.
This is a perfect use for some of the bigger LEWA pumps.
There are issues of safety to consider too. With a centrifugal pump the pump can do the job adequately, but there is an increased risk of fugitive emissions. If there is a seal failure then this poses a major HSE issue. Diaphragm pumps takes care of these issues perfectly, and we're very interested in marketing these to the interesting projects around the Gulf.
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