1. NON-PIPELINE TRANSPORT OF NATURAL GAS
Jón Steinar Gudmundsson
TPG4140 NATURGASS
NTNU
September 12, 2012

2. Associated Gas Problem
World-wide, oil fields cannot be developed unless the associated gas problem can be solved (”stranded oil”)
The term ”stranded gas” is used in situations where the oil/gas field is remote or located in deep water
The term ”marginal gas” is used in situations where the oil/gas field is too small to justify a gas pipeline

3. Associated Gas Solutions
Gas-to-Flare (burning)
Gas-to-Well (injection)
Gas-to-Liquid (LNG, MOH etc.)
Gas-to-Wire (electricity) Gas-to-Tank (CNG)
Gas-to-Solid (NGH)

4. Non-Pipeline Technologies
CNG Compressed Natural Gas
GTL Gas-to-Liquid (incl. MOH)
GTW Gas-to-Wire (DC and AC)
LNG Liqufied Natural Gas
NGH Natural Gas Hydrate

5. CAPACITY-DISTANCE DIAGRAM Gudmundsson and Mork (2001)

6. Khalipour et al. 2009, IPTC 14083

7. Size and Technology Hove et al. (1999)
Non-Pipeline
Technology
Nominal Plant
Capacity
Field
Size
LNG
3 MTPY
2.75 TCF
Syncrude
20,000 bbl/d
1.36 TCF
MOH
2500 MTPD
0.54 TCF
NGH
1.6 MSm3/d
0.38 TCF

8. Norwegian Fields and Plants
Field Name
Reserves
(gas, LPG, cond.)
Plant Size
(gas prod.)
Ormen Lange
Hammerfest LNG*
400 BCM (=14.1 TCF)
190 BCM (=6.7 TCF)
1 Sm3 = ft3
20 BCM/year
4.3 BCM/year
* Feed flow 6.9 BCM/year, Products 6.0 BCM/year,
LPG 0.2 MTPY, Condensate 0.7 MTPY (Heiersted 2005)

9. Natural Gas Resources BP (2001) and Hove et al. (1999)
World reserves 150 TCM (=5295 TCF)
38% in FSU, 35% Middle East, 9% OECD and 18% other regions
80% new gas fields less than 0.25 TCF
(=7 BCM) in size
Assuming 20 years, gives delivery
0.35 BCM/year (=12.5 BCF/year)

10. Natural Gas Monetisation Routes 5 TCF field size, 600 MMscfd (=6
Natural Gas Monetisation Routes 5 TCF field size, 600 MMscfd (=6.2 BCM/year) Klein Nagervoort (2000)
Non-Pipeline
Technology
Global Demand
Plant Size
Plant %
MOH
30 MTPA
(corrected)
6 MTPA
20%
LNG
100 MTPA
4 MTPA 4%
GTL
3,000 MTPA
3 MTPA
0.1%

11. Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis Process Klein Nagervoort (2000)

12. FPSO Overview of Alternatives

13. FPSO + Methanol
UT-769

14. FPSO + Methanol Separation Steam TCR reforming Gas Choke
Manifold
Desulphur- isation
Methanol
Synthesis
Stabilisation/
Distillation
Grade AA
Methanol
Crude oil
Crude Methanol
Water
Produced water
treatment
Methanol Storage
tanks
Crude Oil Storage tanks
Oil
Water
Gas
Discharge
To shuttle
Tanker

15. Process, Marine CNG Load - $10% Sail - $85% Discharge - $5% 54 bar
compress
refrigerate
200 bar
10 oC
200 bar
5 oC
Sail - $85%
15.5 knots
Discharge - $5%
10 bar
-30 oC
expand
scavenge
heat
47 bar
5 oC

16. Pipe, CNG and LNG, 400 MMscfd

17. Pipe vs. CNG

18. Hydrate Equilibrium Curve
1 m3 of hydrate
180 Sm3 of gas

19. STANDARDIZED PELLETS Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding

20. Capital cost of NGH and LNG chains for 400 MMscf/d production and transport over 3500 nautical miles. Million US dollars mid-1995.

21. PIPE, GTL, LNG, NGH Capex vs. Distance

22. Images of NGH carriers
Source; JRTT/Phase-1, Conceptual design on NGH carrier

23. Natural gas sea transport chain with NGH pellets
NGH formation
Storage Tank
Storage Tank
Re-gasification
Natural Gas
Natural Gas
Water
Pelletizer
Water
NGH Carrier
Load
Unload
Powdery
Pellets
Pellets to fire

24. CONCLUSIONS
There is a need for non-pipeline technologies that can capture stranded gas and transport to market. NGH technology is being developed for this purpose and is considered an attractive alternative. Several groups have worked on developing NGH technology world-wide (NTNU was the first, now Mitsui of Japan has pilot-scale production and transport).
LNG technology is recognised as the technology of choice for large-volume, long-distance transport of natural gas. However, about 80% of the natural gas resources yet to be developed world-wide are too small for state-of-the-art LNG technology and about one-half of these (40% of total) are stranded.
The cost of transporting stranded gas to market using non-pipeline technologies has been estimated in the range 1.5 to 3.0 US$ per million BTU (ca US$/GJ), depending on the scale of development and distance to market. CNG and NGH are probably competing in similar stranded gas situations.