scholarly journals Shale-Oil Development Prospects: The Role of Shale-Gas in Developing Shale-Oil

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 3331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas B. Reynolds ◽  
Maduabuchi Pascal Umekwe

Currently, most of the world’s shale-oil is coming from the United States, but more may be needed from non-U.S. sources in order to keep the world price of oil from increasing, and yet a number of petroleum producing countries have yet to develop shale-oil resources. This article investigates why that may be. One reason for this may be the role that shale-gas development plays in the search for shale-oil. In the oil and natural gas industry over much of the 20th century, finding oil has usually been more valuable than finding natural gas because the gas has less energy density than oil, making each BTU (or Joule) of oil energy easier to store, transport and use for consumers. However, since shale source-rock often has both natural gas and oil, then it behooves a shale search process to start by looking for natural gas first rather than oil to enhance the profitability of the search process. The problem, then, is that a shale-oil only search strategy has the same problem that first plagued the oil and gas industry: What do you do with the natural gas? In this paper, we will examine how this “chicken and egg” exploration scenario has played out in the U.S. in order to draw lessons on how difficult shale-oil development will be for the rest of the world.

Subject US methane regulations. Significance US rules aimed at 45% reductions in methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by 2025 are to be finalised in the middle of this year, according to a White House plan unveiled last month. Methane emissions are the second-most common greenhouse gas (GHG) in the United States and account worldwide for nearly 20% of 'radiative forcing' -- a measure of potential climate change impact. The new rules will apply from 2016 and only to new or newly modified sites. Impacts The push to switch to natural gas from coal could lead to a rapid increase in gas installations. However, the natural gas industry has expanded during the 'shale revolution' and those operations will be exempt from current rules. Landfill regulations may proliferate at municipal and state level, where the industry is less politicised.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 105-112
Author(s):  
Sh aalan Mohamed Abdo Hamud ◽  
◽  
Raisa A. Ak hmedyanova ◽  

The review of the oil and gas industry in Saudi Arabia is Conducted. Data on oil and gas reserves, consumption, and exports are provided. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest non-FTI producers in the Russian Federation among the non-FTI exporters (OPEC). BL agodarya mirovym za pasam not FTI, one of the most important ones in the world, but the one with the most inquisitive in the field of energy from rasli, Saudi Arabia, is the largest exporter of oil. The data on oil reserves of the largest fields, including the largest in the world of the terikovoye non-oil field of Gavar are presented. Saudi Arabia occupies the fifth place in the world in the field of natural gas passes, with a volume of 294 trillion cubic feet, and the third place in the field of natural gas passes in the Far East. Saudi Arabia they EET de nine EXT morning not preparatively for waste water treatment, of which four PR andlegal Saudi Aramco and the OS the rest of the floor joint PR Adbrite with to foreign companies. The largest oil and gas companies represented in SaudiI Arawia are named, in particular: Saudi Aramco, Saudi Shell, Saudi Exxon Mobil, Saudi Chevron, Total, Eni, Sinopec, Sumitomo. It is shown that Saudi Ar amco is a non-state oil company of Saudi Arabia, the largest in the world in terms of oil production and oil reserves. The company also controls natural gas production in the country. Saudi Aramco is a national non-oil company Of the Saudi Aravia, which is responsible for non-oil and gas operations throughout the Kingdom. Recently, the main goal is to use unconventional gas sources, namely shale gas production. Currently, the company Saudi Aramco has more than 16 drilling rigs for the extraction of shale gas. By the end of 2020, the company is expected to extract 3 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (15) ◽  
pp. 9169-9182
Author(s):  
Oliver Schneising ◽  
Michael Buchwitz ◽  
Maximilian Reuter ◽  
Steffen Vanselow ◽  
Heinrich Bovensmann ◽  
...  

Abstract. The switch from the use of coal to natural gas or oil for energy generation potentially reduces greenhouse gas emissions and thus the impact on global warming and climate change because of the higher energy creation per CO2 molecule emitted. However, the climate benefit over coal is offset by methane (CH4) leakage from natural gas and petroleum systems, which reverses the climate impact mitigation if the rate of fugitive emissions exceeds the compensation point at which the global warming resulting from the leakage and the benefit from the reduction of coal combustion coincide. Consequently, an accurate quantification of CH4 emissions from the oil and gas industry is essential to evaluate the suitability of natural gas and petroleum as bridging fuels on the way to a carbon-neutral future. We show that regional CH4 release from large oil and gas fields can be monitored from space by using dense daily recurrent measurements of the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite to quantify emissions and leakage rates. The average emissions for the time period 2018/2019 from the five most productive basins in the United States, the Permian, Appalachian, Eagle Ford, Bakken, and Anadarko, are estimated to be 3.18±1.13, 2.36±0.88, 1.37±0.63, 0.89±0.56, and 2.74±0.74 Mt yr−1, respectively. This corresponds to CH4 leakage rates relative to the associated production between 1.2 % and 1.4 % for the first four production regions, which are consistent with bottom-up estimates and likely fall below the break-even leakage rate for immediate climate benefit. For the Anadarko Basin, the fugitive emission rate is larger and amounts to 3.9±1.1 %, which likely exceeds the break-even rate for immediate benefit and roughly corresponds to the break-even rate for a 20-year time horizon. The determined values are smaller than previously derived satellite-based leakage rates for the time period 2009–2011, which was an early phase of hydraulic fracturing, indicating that it is possible to improve the climate footprint of the oil and gas industry by adopting new technologies and that efforts to reduce methane emissions have been successful. For two of the world's largest natural gas fields, Galkynysh and Dauletabad in Turkmenistan, we find collective methane emissions of 3.26±1.17 Mt yr−1, which corresponds to a leakage rate of 4.1±1.5 %, suggesting that the Turkmen energy industry is not employing methane emission avoidance strategies and technologies as successfully as those currently widely used in the United States. The leakage rates in Turkmenistan and in the Anadarko Basin indicate that there is potential to reduce fugitive methane emissions from natural gas and petroleum systems worldwide. In particular, relatively newly developed oil and gas plays appear to have larger leakage rates compared to more mature production areas.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Schneising ◽  
Michael Buchwitz ◽  
Maximilian Reuter ◽  
Steffen Vanselow ◽  
Heinrich Bovensmann ◽  
...  

Abstract. The switch from the use of coal to natural gas or oil for the energy generation potentially reduces the greenhouse gas emissions and thus the impact on global warming and climate change because of the larger energy content per CO2 molecule emitted. However, the climate benefit over coal is offset by methane (CH4) leakage from natural gas and petroleum systems, which reverses the climate impact mitigation if the rate of fugitive emissions exceeds the compensation point at which the global warming resulting from the leakage and the benefit from the reduction of coal combustion coincide. Consequently, an accurate quantification of the CH4 emissions from the oil and gas industry is essential to evaluate the suitability of natural gas and petroleum as bridging fuels on the way to a carbon-neutral future. We show that regional CH4 release from large oil and gas fields can be monitored from space by using dense daily recurrent measurements of the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite to quantify emissions and leakage rates. The average emissions for the time period 2018/2019 from the five most productive basins in the United States, the Permian, Appalachia, Eagle Ford, Bakken, and Anadarko are estimated to be 3.16 ± 1.13 Mt yr−1, 2.36 ± 0.88 Mt yr−1, 1.52 ± 0.68 Mt yr−1, 0.89 ± 0.56 Mt yr−1, and 2.81 ± 0.77 Mt yr−1, respectively. This corresponds to CH4 leakage rates relative to the associated production between 1.2 % and 1.6 % for the first four production regions, which are consistent with bottom-up estimates and likely fall below the break-even leakage rate for immediate climate benefit. For the Anadarko Basin, the fugitive emission rate is larger and amounts to 4.0 ± 1.1 %, which likely exceeds the break-even rate for immediate benefit and roughly corresponds to the break-even rate for a 20-year time horizon. The determined values are smaller than previously derived satellite-based leakage rates for the time period 2009–2011, which was an early phase of hydraulic fracturing, indicating that it is possible to improve the climate footprint of the oil and gas industry by adopting new technologies and that the efforts to reduce the methane emissions have been successful. For two of the world's largest natural gas fields Galkynysh and Dauletabad in Turkmenistan, we find collective methane emissions of 3.23 ± 1.17 Mt yr−1, which corresponds to a leakage rate of 4.1 ± 1.5 % suggesting that the Turkmen energy industry has not the technological standards concerning avoidance of emissions than the United States average. Together with the high leakage rate for the Anadarko Basin, this indicates that there is potential to reduce fugitive methane emissions from natural gas and petroleum systems worldwide. In particular, relatively newly developed oil and gas plays appear to have larger leakage rates in contrast to more mature production areas.


Author(s):  
А.В. Иванов ◽  
А.В. Стриженок ◽  
И.К. Супрун

Актуальность работы. Утилизация попутного нефтяного газа методом сжигания его на факельных установках является одной из основных экологических проблем при добыче нефти в мире. При этом данный процесс оказывает колоссальный экономический ущерб, так как попутный нефтяной газ является потенциальным продуктом, который возможно перерабатывать с получением товарной продукции, электроэнергии или тепловой энергии. Только в России на факелах ежегодно сжигается более 30 млрд м3 ПНГ, при этом сжигание 1 млрд куб. м попутного газа эквивалентно потере товарной продукции на сумму более 300 млн долларов. Цель работы. В представленной статье авторами проведен подбор оптимального способа утилизации попутного нефтяного газа на малых месторождениях России и его эколого-экономическое обоснование. Методы исследования. В качестве наиболее рентабельного метода принят способ электрогенерации с использованием газотурбинной электростанции. Реализация такого проекта на месторождении снижает выбросы загрязняющих веществ в сотни раз, а срок его окупаемости не превышает 2,5 лет. Нефтяная и газовая промышленность это динамично развивающаяся отрасль мировой экономики, а добываемые нефть и природный газ один из основных энергоресурсов на нашей планете. В Российской Федерации нефтегазовая промышленность является одной из ключевых отраслей, обеспечивающих формирование бюджета. В 2017 году в России было добыто более 500 млн т нефти и около 600 млрд м3 природного газа, при этом более 50 сырой нефти и около 40 природного газа было отправлено на экспорт. При таких значительных объемах добычи и далеко не самых крупных запасах нефти ресурсообеспеченность России нефтью по различным оценкам составляет от 20 до 25 лет при неизменных объемах добычи. Немного лучше ситуация обстоит с природным газом, ресурсообеспеченность России которым по разным оценкам составляет от 80 до 100 лет. При этом добыча нефти и газа является одним из наиболее опасных производств для окружающей природной среды. Результаты работы. В процессе освоения нефтяных и газовых месторождений можно выделить следующие основные проблемы, освещённые в данной работе: нарушение растительного, почвенного и снежного покровов, поверхностного стока, срезка микрорельефа необратимые деформации земной поверхности в результате извлечения из недр нефти, газа и подземных вод, поддерживающих пластовое давление загрязнение атмосферы, почвы, поверхностных и подземных водных источников. Однако одной из наиболее актуальных экологических проблем нефтегазового промышленного комплекса в России является утилизация попутного нефтяного газа. Попутный нефтяной газ (далее ПНГ) один из сопутствующих продуктов процесса добычи нефти и её предварительной подготовки к транспортировке. Основными компонентами ПНГ являются метан и другие низкомолекулярные (летучие) алканы Relevance. One of the main environmental problems in oil production in the world today is the utilization of associated petroleum gas (APG) by combustion it in flares. At the same time, this process has enormous economic damage, since APG is a potential raw material that can be used to produce marketable products, power or heat energy. More than 30 billion cubic meters of APG are combusted in flares annually only in Russia, which is about 20 of the total amount of combusted APG in the world. It should be noted that combustion of 1 billion cubic meters of APG is equivalent to the loss of marketable products worth more than 300 million dollars. Aim. In the present article, the authors carried out a selection of the optimal method for utilization of APG at small fields in Russia and its environmental and economic justification. Methods. The method of power generation directly at the field using gas turbine power station was adopted as the most cost-effective method. The implementation of such a project at the field reduces emissions of pollutants hundreds of times, and payback period does not exceed 2.5 years. The oil and gas industry is a dynamically developing sector of the world economy, but produced oil and natural gas is one of the main energy resources on our planet. The oil and gas industry is one of the main industries ensuring budget formation in the Russian Federation. More than 500 million tons of oil and about 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas were produced in Russia in 2017, as the same time about 50 of crude oil and about 40 of natural gas were exported. With such significant production volumes and not the largest oil reserves, the resource supply of Russia with oil, according to various estimates, ranges from 20 to 25 years with current production volumes. The situation with natural gas is a little better, as resource supply of Russia with natural gas, according to various estimates, ranges from 80 to 100 years. Results. At the same time, oil and gas production is one of the most hazardous industries for the environment. In the process of developing oil and gas fields, the following main problems can be distinguished: violation of vegetation, soil and snow cover, surface runoff, cut microrelief irreversible deformations of the earths surface as a result of extraction from the bowels of oil, gas and groundwater that support reservoir pressure pollution of the atmosphere, soil, surface and underground water sources. However, one of the most pressing environmental problems of the oil and gas industrial complex in Russia is the utilization of associated petroleum gas (hereinafter referred to as APG). APG is one of the by-products of the process of oil production and its preliminary preparation for transportation. The main components of PNG are methane and other low molecular weight (volatile) alkanes


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Miriam R. Aczel ◽  
Karen E. Makuch

High-volume hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling has “revolutionized” the United States’ oil and gas industry by allowing extraction of previously inaccessible oil and gas trapped in shale rock [1]. Although the United States has extracted shale gas in different states for several decades, the United Kingdom is in the early stages of developing its domestic shale gas resources, in the hopes of replicating the United States’ commercial success with the technologies [2, 3]. However, the extraction of shale gas using hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling poses potential risks to the environment and natural resources, human health, and communities and local livelihoods. Risks include contamination of water resources, air pollution, and induced seismic activity near shale gas operation sites. This paper examines the regulation of potential induced seismic activity in Oklahoma, USA, and Lancashire, UK, and concludes with recommendations for strengthening these protections.


Author(s):  
Angus Bowie

Double Block and Bleed is a term often used in the oil and gas industry to define a level of isolation sufficient to perform maintenance activities. The true definition relates to incumbent valves providing two proven levels of isolation against the outboard pressure to permit breaching of containment in the isolated pipe. This paper assesses how temporary isolation devices can provide equivalent isolation where incumbent valves do not exist at appropriate locations in the system. It reviews the different interpretations of Double Block and Bleed used within the industry and compares how different isolation devices are assessed in relation to the level of isolation they provide. It will reference several examples from around the world of where temporary isolation devices have been used to replace valves and perform repairs in trunk pipelines without depressurising the whole pipeline. It will also cover examples of isolating live process pipe to perform maintenance activities outside plant shutdown.


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