Abstract
Objective/Scope: Associated gas occurring in the offshore production facilities has traditionally been handled by flaring (primarily), gas export, and gas re-injection. Operators and owners have preferred to flare in many cases because gas export and re-injection are either very expensive or infeasible. Global interest in eco-friendly solutions has recently increased in the area of offshore oil & gas fields.
To achieve zero-flaring for oil & gas production site, "Modular Gas-to-Liquids (GTL)" and "GTL Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO)" has been researched as candidate zero-flare methods. Our goal is to develop a portfolio of zero-flare solutions to support business development by making technical & economic comparisons of gas export, gas re-injection and offshore GTL.
Methods, Procedures, Process: In the view of EPC contractor, the technical & economic feasibility study for Offshore GTL application was studied and analyzed. Several gas handling methods (e.g. gas export, gas re-injection, and Offshore GTL) were compared and analyzed to figure out which technology is the best option for associated gas handling for offshore oil & gas fields. We also studied which method would be more competitive depending on gas production capacity, distance from onshore to offshore, crude oil price, and natural gas price in offshore oil & gas fields. Moreover, economic analysis was performed to identify the major cost factors & ranges and to understand their impact on the project.
Results, Observations, Conclusions: The feasibility study of GTL module on FPSO has been lately completed to acquire the preliminary technical & economic comparison of gas export, gas re-injection and Offshore GTL for developing oil & gas fields in offshore. The results of this study suggest that concepts of GTL application can be technically and economically more competitive than gas export and gas re-injection in some offshore oil & gas fields. The GTL products are more profitable than export & re-injection gas in the energy markets within the range of the current project cost factors.
Novel/Additive Information: It must be a great opportunity to set up a cooperation network for the next stage of developing Offshore GTL. The cooperation network will research and develop Pre-FEED for Offshore GTL and the result will bring commercial realization of this innovative approach of oil & gas fields in offshore.
