Utilization of Stranded Small Capacity Gas Sources
05 Oct 15
2:00 PM
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3:30 PM
Natural gas as energy source is growing and is expected to pass coal as number one primary energy source within couple of years. Gas reserves though are not evenly distributed in the world. There are many regions globally which are lacking domestic natural gas totally or the sources are remotely located and too small to be exploited commercially.
These gas sources are called Stranded Gas Sources. The gas can be derived from: small gas fields, as associated gas from oil fields, coal bed methane, shale gas, bio gas, etc. The common nominator is that they are all methane rich gases and can be utilized as feed gas for regular pipeline quality natural gas.
In the Regions where natural gas is an import commodity Stranded Gases could contribute into the national gas demand and economy. The development of these sources is though expensive and capital intensive. The key question would be – how to get the gas to the consumers? If the source is small it typically does not support the costs involved in the traditional pipelines.
At Wärtsilä we are approaching this question from two angles. Our primary focus is on the small scale on-site power generation where the power plant is dimensioned for the gas source. Transporting electrical power costs fraction compared to gas transportation infrastructure. If gas is needed elsewhere our proposal is small scale LNG liquefaction. LNG transportation on road tankers is widely available globally and is easy to adapt to new regions.
In this paper we’ll examine the boundary conditions for realising a Stranded Gas Source project either with small scale power generation or LNG liquefaction process. We’ll take a look at some limiting factors for project development. Finally we’ll present two case studies about successful Stranded Gas Utilization projects.