Release Date: August 15, 2001

PITTSBURGH, PA - America has plentiful supplies of natural gas, but as much as one-third of all U.S. gas reserves are substandard - that is, the gas contains too many impurities to be piped directly into homes and industries. Some gas supplies are trapped in remote regions far away from gas pipelines. Other gas resources often go undetected in isolated sections of a reservoir and are frequently abandoned.

With America's demand for natural gas likely to expand by as much as 60 percent over the next 20 years, tomorrow's gas producers will need new, more effective ways to upgrade substandard gas and to tap gas currently beyond their reach because of geologic or geographic obstacles.

The Department of Energy's Fossil Energy program is supporting research projects in these areas and this week is adding six new joint government-industry projects, totaling $7.7 million, to its natural gas portfolio.

Four of the projects focus on advanced concepts for processing natural gas - either removing pollutant-forming impurities or developing ways to create or transport liquid fuels that can be made from natural gas.

The other two projects will develop high-tech tools that gas producers can use in the future to locate and extract gas from reservoirs that are too geologically complex or expensive to produce with today's technology.

The department's Strategic Center for Natural Gas, part of its National Energy Technology Laboratory, will oversee the new projects.

Area of Interest: Natural Gas Processing

Research in this area has become increasingly important in light of a new study released this spring by the Gas Technology Institute (GTI). The study estimated that one-third of all U.S. natural gas reserves are below the quality standard necessary for most commercial uses. GTI found that of the nation's 148 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, nearly 61 trillion cubic feet is low-quality gas. The study also estimates that of the 1,690 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered gas in the country, 496 trillion cubic feet could be substandard.

To tackle the need for improved gas upgrading technology, the Energy Department selected:

• Membrane Technology & Research Inc., Menlo Park, CA. The company will focus on ways to reduce nitrogen impurities in substandard gas. GTI estimateS that 17 percent of natural gas reserves in the U.S. are below pipeline standards because of excess nitrogen. Membrane Technology & Research will build a 1 million standard cubic-foot-per-day membrane separation system that removes excess nitrogen from natural gas. Field tests in high-nitrogen Butcher Energy gas field in Jackson County, Ohio, will be conducted for one year during which the economics and technical capabilities of the membrane modules will be assessed. The system is to reduce the nitrogen content from the Butcher Energy field, which contains 20-25 percent nitrogen, to less than 4 percent, and deliver it to a nearby pipeline.

  Project cost: $1.548 million; proposed DOE award: $648,813; participant share: $900,000;
  Project duration: 24 months.
  
  
  

• Gas Technology Institute, Des Plaines, IL, will develop, demonstrate and evaluate a gas/liquid absorber composed of membrane modules that upgrade substandard natural gas to pipeline regulations. Because the membranes can process five to 10 times more natural gas than similar membranes, related treating equipment is 50-70 percent smaller and lighter in weight. A simulation model to project membrane lifespan will be used, and an economic assessment will be conducted. Chevron will host a gas-treatment plant, Kvaerner Process Systems will build the test unit and W.L. Gore & Associates will provide the membranes. GTI will operate and collect data for the lab and field tests; with Kvaerner, GTI will evaluate the absorber s economics.

Project cost: $1.9 million; proposed DOE award: $858,420; participant share: $1.04 million
Project duration: 30 months.

The other two natural gas processing projects will deal with gas-to-liquids technology. The projects could improve prospects for tapping the vast natural gas resources in Alaska's far North Slope. Currently this gas is not marketed because of the lack of gas pipelines. Converting the gas into liquid form would offer a way to ship it to market via the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

• TDA Research Inc., Wheat Ridge, CO, will develop a more efficient, lower-cost method of reforming natural gas - i.e., chemically breaking apart the gas molecule typically in the presence of steam - to create hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be further converted into liquid fuels, such as methanol, and into high-value chemicals. Reforming is the most expensive step in producing liquids from natural gas, and if costs can be reduced, processes for converting Alaska's North Slope gas to liquid fuels could become much more attractive.

  Project cost: $153,514; proposed DOE award: $99,989; participant share: $53,525
  Project duration: 6 months.
  
  
  

• University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, will study how to best transport gas converted into a liquid through the existing Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). The university will analyze the fluid properties of gas to liquids, crude oil and their blends under various operating conditions. One area of particular interest to the University researchers will be the affect different types of fuel blends might have on restarting the flow of oil through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, should the pipeline need to be shut down for prolonged repairs during winter months.

Project cost: $799,749; proposed DOE share: $604,733; participant share: $195,016
Project duration: 36 months.

Area of Interest: Gas Exploration, Production & Storage

With the nation's demand for natural gas steadily increasing, the easiest-to-produce reservoirs in the United States are rapidly being tapped. Within the next 10 to 20 years, producers will have to turn extensively to gas-bearing formations that are much more geologically complex and difficult to produce. To help develop the tools that will be needed for these reservoirs, the department has selected:

• Novatek Engineering, Inc., Provo, UT, which proposes to develop a high-speed method of transmitting data from the bottom of a wellbore to operators on the surface through the drill string - i.e., the drill pipe and casing. The objective is to achieve data rates that approach or exceed computer modem speeds. One of the technical hurdles will be to develop an effective way to transmit data across the threaded joints between individual sections of a drill pipe.

  Project cost: $1.293 million; proposed DOE award: $600,000; participant share: $692,919
  Project duration: 12 months.
  
  

• Paulsson Geophysical Services, Inc., LaHabra, CA, which hopes to resolve one of the primary impediments to obtaining high resolution, 3-dimensional images of deep and complex gas reservoirs - namely the lack of acquisition technology needed to record the large volumes seismic data needed to do 3-D imaging. The company will focus on developing an advanced seismic receiver that can handle the high volumes of data.

  Project cost: $2 million; proposed DOE award: $1 million; participant share: $1 million
  Project duration: 24 months.