Global Gas Industry Research Articles

Directions of development of the global gas industry in the light of the 28th World Gas Conference in Daegu

Światowe Konferencje Gazownicze, organizowane przez Międzynarodową Unię Gazowniczą (IGU) od 1931 roku, są największymi i najważniejszymi spotkaniami branży gazowniczej na świecie. Ostatnia, 28. Światowa Konferencja Gazownicza odbyła się w Daegu w Korei Południowej w dniach 23–27 maja 2022 r. Motto konferencji brzmiało: Zrównoważona przyszłość napędzana gazem. Konferencji towarzyszyła wystawa prezentująca najnowsze technologie i trendy w globalnym przemyśle gazowniczym. W niniejszym artykule przedstawiono krótkie podsumowanie tej konferencji i wystawy. Pomimo epidemii COVID-19 i skomplikowanej sytuacji politycznej na świecie w konferencji wzięło udział 293 prelegentów, 141 wystawców oraz 9500 gości z 72 krajów, w tym z Polski. Na 28. Światowej Wystawie Gazowniczej Polska była reprezentowana przez PGNiG, a na konferencji zaprezentowano trzy polskie referaty. Dominującym tematem konferencji były: zrównoważona transformacja energetyczna w kierunku neutralności węglowej, redukcja emisji zanieczyszczeń, a także oczekiwana rosnąca rola wodoru w przyszłych systemach energetycznych. Gaz ziemny uznano za część niskoemisyjnej przyszłości w sektorze energetycznym. Jednak realna transformacja energetyczna na świecie wymaga nowych technologii, które są obecnie rozwijane. Można przewidywać, że paliwa kopalne, zwłaszcza gaz, pozostaną ważnym elementem globalnego systemu energetycznego co najmniej do 2050 roku. Na konferencji osiągnięto konsensus, że zrównoważony rozwój gazownictwa ziemnego i technologii wodorowych przyspieszy nadejście ery niskoemisyjnej, a gaz jest nie tylko paliwem przejściowym, ale także podstawowym paliwem dla przyszłego rozwoju.

World’s Largest Gas-Producing Nations: Natural Gas Will Keep the Lights on for the Next Generation

Natural gas is almost certain to be the fastest-growing fossil fuel in the global energy mix for decades to come, comprising 28% of the global energy mix by 2050. Together with renewables, natural gas will likely fuel 60% of global electricity production, be it as pipeline gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), or blue hydrogen. These are among the forecasts that appear in the 2020 edition of the GECF (Gas Exporting Countries Forum) Global Gas Outlook 2050 released in February 2021 and providing short-, medium-, and long-term energy projections based on assumptions regarding macroeconomic conditions, energy prices, and policies. The report is updated yearly and is the flagship publication of the organization, which represents countries that control 71% of global gas reserves. It is unique in that it focuses exclusively on the global gas industry, which today is providing for 23% of global energy needs. Headquartered in Doha, Qatar, the GECF is an intergovernmental organization comprising 11 member countries and nine observer states, established in 2001 by Russia and Iran. Moscow and Tehran had hoped that GECF would eventually morph into a “Gas OPEC” but that never happened. The organization’s analyses and forecasts do, however, present a worthwhile snapshot of how the world’s largest gas producers see the industry. Member states in GECF include Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Observer countries are Angola, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Norway, Oman, Peru, and the UAE. Unconventional Gas To Play Growing Role In its report, the GECF noted that unconventional resources will be playing a growing role in the market and that gas producers will need to emphasize unconventional projects to satisfy growing demand, as well as to invest heavily into exploration to identify and tap into new gas reserves and develop greenfield projects. “It is also important to highlight the increasing interest in hydrogen as a lever to support the deep decarbonization of the world’s economies,” Yury P. Sentyurin, GECF’s Secretary General, wrote in his introduction to the annual outlook. In mentioning hydrogen, Sentyurin is speaking about “blue hydrogen” which is produced from natural gas, and which, when combined with CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, storage) can marry commercial and environmental interests, further positioning natural gas as a transition fuel to bridge the gap between fossil fuels and renewable sources of energy. Blue hydrogen is in fact expected to satisfy half of the hydrogen demand projected worldwide by 2050, Sentyurin points out. Policies being set by countries in the European Union have focused more on costly “green hydrogen” produced from renewable sources; but not in the policies of other nations in regions of the world where growth in energy demand is expected to be the highest. Growth in European energy demand is largely flat.

Innovation Management in the Supply Chains of Russian Natural Gas, Taking into Account the Regional Structure of its Production

The article describes the role of Russia in the global gas industry, on the basis of the analysis of the factual data cited, conclusions are drawn about the provision of the economy with the considered minerals, the main problems in managing the supply chains of natural gas and liquefied natural gas are formulated, and innovative ways to solve them are proposed. Based on the fuzzy modeling method, it was shown that the maximum amount of budget revenues from the export duty of Russian natural gas from the main gas-bearing regions can almost double. At the same time, the minimum volume in the same case remains virtually unchanged, remaining within 10%. The use of fuzzy modeling in innovation management in the supply chains of Russian natural gas is caused by high volatility in the global commodity markets, both for the underlying asset (in this case, natural gas) and for derivative financial instruments (derivatives). Based on the simplex optimization method, innovation management schemes have been developed in the supply chains of Russian natural gas, taking into account the regional structure of its production. The differences in the economic efficiency of the export duty for the Russian budget between the supply of pipeline natural gas and liquefied natural gas are shown. The author’s methods presented in the article can be used as additional innovative tools for making strategic and operational management decisions by industry leaders and public authorities.

Economic Feasibility Analysis of Shale Gas Extraction from UK’s Carboniferous Bowland-Hodder Shale Unit

For many years, shale gas exploitation has been generating contradictory views in the UK and remains subject of rising debates throughout these years. Favorably backed by the government, looking upon it as potential mechanism for gas import independency and competitiveness in global gas industry while strongly opposed by stakeholders (mainly public), idea of shale gas exploitation remains disputed with no substantial progress in past years. And this irresolution is worsened by obscurity of estimates for potential reserves and conflicting assessments on potential impact of shale gas. Yet, in case shale industry is signaled to search and extract resources, there remains another scrutiny stage that shale industry will be subjected to i.e., its extraction must be economically feasible as extracting unconventional resources is financially expensive and riskier than conventional. Hence, this study aims at analyzing the economics of UK’s most prolific Bowland shale play development by a financial model that discovers gas prices range required to earn capital cost on investment in Bowland shale play and is tested on three development plans where it determines that based on given set of hypothesis and past decade’s average gas price of $6.52/Mcf, none of the development plans hold enough probability of adding value, however, hybrid plan formulated by combination of consistent drilling and refracturing proves as economically sustainable with a RGP mean $7.21/Mcf, significantly lower than $9.76/Mcf mean for ‘drilling only’ plan. It is found that required gas price is most sensitive to initial production rate and drilling costs where ±10% variation offsets RGP by ≈ ±8% and ±7%.

Simultaneous Hydrate and Corrosion Inhibition with Modified Poly(vinyl caprolactam) Polymers

Corrosion and unwanted gas hydrate formation in subsea flowlines are two of the major issues that the global gas industry faces when transporting natural gas. Gas hydrates can cause severe blockages due to the formation of hydrate plugs that block the flow. Corrosion issues lead to significant economic loss in terms of prevention and repair. To manage these issues, hydrate and corrosion inhibitors are injected separately to subsea flowlines. However, there are often compatibility issues that negatively impact their performance as a result of surface and molecular interactions. The aim of this study is to tackle this compatibility problem by developing single polymer molecules that simultaneously prevent hydrate formation and inhibit corrosion. The resulting materials are termed as kinetic hydrate and corrosion inhibitors (KHCIs). The molecules are designed and assembled using key structural motifs that are known kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) and corrosion inhibitors. Specifically a KHI base polymer is...

Change, opportunity and grief: Understanding the complex social-ecological impacts of Liquefied Natural Gas development in the Australian coastal zone

Recent rapid growth in the natural gas industry has led to concerns about the potential impacts of development on local communities, and the capacity of current governance arrangements to manage those impacts. Although a growing body of research explores the impacts of ‘boomtown’ mining and energy development in inland communities, comparatively little work has examined the impacts of natural gas development on communities in the coastal zone. Coastal communities are part of complex social-ecological systems that are increasingly a focal point for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) development. Drawing on in-depth interviews and grey literature, this paper examines the direct, indirect and cumulative social-ecological impacts of LNG development in a coastal community in Australia, an emerging hub for the global gas industry. The research finds that the impacts of coastal LNG development share similarities with conventional mining, but also present new challenges for the governance of the industry.

Liquefied Natural Gas and Fossil Capitalism

The contemporary ecological crisis places a new spin on the notion of the resource curse, evoking widespread concerns regarding hydrocarbon dependency. Whether environmental, in the form of global warming, or socio-political, through wars over oil, capitalism is now understood as a global problem. The development of a global market in natural gas, heavily dependent on the development of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry, offers an example of a corporate-endorsed solution to the simultaneous ecological and economic crises associated with fossil capitalism. Yet, since 2004 a cross-continental mobilization against the development of LNG terminals in North America has successfully challenged the installation of some LNG infrastructure on the West Coast. These movements stress that the investment required to build the global gas industry displaces investment in renewables.i»?This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.