Pseudo Dry Gas Technology: Pathway to Decarbonisation of Energy Consumption for Remote Offshore Gas Fields

Transporting large volumes of gas over long distances from further and deeper waters remains a significant challenge in making remote offshore gas field developments technologically and economically viable. The conventional development options include subsea compression, floating topside with topside compression and pipeline tie-back to shore, or floating liquefied natural gas vessels. However, these options are CAPEX and OPEX intensive and require high energy consumption. Demand for a lower emission solution is increasingly seen as the growing trend of global energy transition. Pseudo Dry Gas (PDG) technology is being developed by Intecsea, Worley Group and The Oil & Gas Technology Centre (Aberdeen) and tested in collaboration with Cranfield University. This is applied to develop stranded or remote gas reserves by removing fluids at the earliest point of accumulation at multiple locations, resulting in near dry gas performance. This technology aims to solve liquid management issues and subsequently allows for energy efficient transportation of the subsea gas enabling dramatic reductions in emissions. The PDG prototype tested using the Flow Loop facilities at Cranfield University has demonstrated the concept’s feasibility. Due to a greater amount of gas recovered with a much lower power requirement, the CO2 emissions per ton of gas produced via the PDG concept is by an order of magnitude lower than conventional methods. This study showed a reduction of 65% to 80% against standard and alternative near future development options. The paper considers innovative technology and a value proposition for the Pseudo Dry Gas concept based on a benchmarked study of a remote offshore gas field. The basin was located in 2000m of water depth, with a 200km long subsea tie-back. To date the longest tieback studied was 350km. It focused on energy consumption and carbon emission aspects. The conclusion is that decarbonisation of energy consumption is technically possible and can be deployed subsea to help meet this future challenge and push the envelope of subsea gas tie-backs.

The Connection of the Methanol Economy to the Concept of the Circular Economy and Its Impact on Sustainability

The idea of the circular economy is gaining ground as one of the means to realize a sustainable future. The concept of a circular economy is an innovative alternative model to society‘s current “linear” mode of operation. An alternative to fossil fuels is a cycle in which carbon and methanol play a major role. Carbon use plays a major role in mitigating global climate change, while methanol as a renewable fuel can also mitigate the negative e~ects of climate change and bridge the problems of scarcity of ecosystem resources and rising levels of consumption. Despite the fact that a circular economy reduces the environmental burden while providing business bene˚ts, not all circular solutions have a positive impact on sustainability. The use of CO2 as a feedstock can be a very e~ective tool for reducing global carbon dioxide concentration as well as reducing dependence on fossil fuels. At the same time, the environmental impacts of the technologies developed need to be accounted for in order to highlight that the technology pathway actually contributes to the sustainability goals.