National Gas Research Articles

Green hydrogen blending in natural gas: A global review and a local analysis on Türkiye based on greenhouse gas emission reduction targets

In this study, Türkiye's natural gas consumption till 2030 is forecasted based on the greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets announced by the Turkish President. Two novel semi-empirical per capita based models are generated for forecasting. It is estimated that Türkiye's natural gas consumption in 2030 could reach 65.5 billion m3, and at this level nearly 650 million m3 of green hydrogen could be needed for 1.0% (v/v) blending. Root mean squared error (RMSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) values of forecast generated by Model 2 are estimated as 3.6 and 5.5%, respectively. These RMSE and MAPE values indicate high accuracy. The forecasting results of Model 2 are also compared with highly cited forecasts from the literature. The accuracy of fit with these forecasts changed between 90.7%–99.9%, which might be considered as an indication of model success. Finally, it is believed that this study could further be adapted by other researchers for estimating local or national natural gas consumption and potential green hydrogen requirements for blending conditional that historic geographical per capita data is available and associated addition/availability factors are calculated based on current circumstances.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GAS SUPPLY SYSTEM IN THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

Gas distribution and transportation networks make up the gas supply system. Providing natural gas to the public and the economy is the primary objective of the gas delivery system. Every nation's gas supply network is strategically vital since the cost of natural gas directly impacts the goods and services that are produced and rendered there. It is true that developed nations are looking for innovative technology for natural gas extraction because it is a non-renewable resource. Founded during the Soviet era and throughout multiple phases of development, the Republic of Armenia's gas supply system is a component of the worldwide network. The Public Services Regulatory Commission and the Armenian government, through the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, oversee the country's gas supply industry. The article discusses the Republic of Armenia's domestic natural gas market's supply and sales, its background and present state, investment initiatives, and features that increase the system's operational efficiency.

Harnessing the sustainable potential of groundwater in Saudi Arabia via remote sensing

Groundwater resources in water-stressed regions, such as the Middle East, face significant challenges due to low precipitation, high temperatures, and elevated evaporation rates, which are compounded by anthropogenic stresses. In this context, Saudi Aramco (the national petroleum and natural gas company of Saudi Arabia) has contributed in the search for potential groundwater sources to ensure an adequate supply of potable water for the country’s citizens, agricultural needs, and industrial usage. In this study, we combined geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing (RS) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) techniques to evaluate the vulnerability of groundwater potential (taking Hail as a case study). With a total of 7 thematic layers (i.e., geology, slope, lineament density, land use/land cover, annual rainfall, drainage density, and soil texture), we found that groundwater potential zones with moderate to high coverage account for 91.9%, which is notably close to the borehole data, with a groundwater potential validation accuracy of 90.0%. The obtained results offer a crucial tool for decision-makers and managers, enabling them to develop timely protection and monitoring measures for groundwater resources.

Constructing a measurement-based spatially explicit inventory of US oil and gas methane emissions (2021)

Abstract. Accurate and comprehensive quantification of oil and gas methane emissions is pivotal in informing effective methane mitigation policies while also supporting the assessment and tracking of progress towards emissions reduction targets set by governments and industry. While national bottom-up source-level inventories are useful for understanding the sources of methane emissions, they are often unrepresentative across spatial scales, and their reliance on generic emission factors produces underestimations when compared with measurement-based inventories. Here, we compile and analyze previously reported ground-based facility-level methane emissions measurements (n=1540) in the major US oil- and gas-producing basins and develop representative methane emission profiles for key facility categories in the US oil and gas supply chain, including well sites, natural-gas compressor stations, processing plants, crude-oil refineries, and pipelines. We then integrate these emissions data with comprehensive spatial data on national oil and gas activity to estimate each facility's mean total methane emissions and uncertainties for the year 2021, from which we develop a mean estimate of annual national methane emissions resolved at 0.1° × 0.1° spatial scales (∼ 10 km × 10 km). From this measurement-based methane emissions inventory (EI-ME), we estimate total US national oil and gas methane emissions of approximately 16 Tg (95 % confidence interval of 14–18 Tg) in 2021, which is ∼ 2 times greater than the EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Our estimate represents a mean gas-production-normalized methane loss rate of 2.6 %, consistent with recent satellite-based estimates. We find significant variability in both the magnitude and spatial distribution of basin-level methane emissions, ranging from production-normalized methane loss rates of < 1 % in the gas-dominant Appalachian and Haynesville regions to > 3 %–6 % in oil-dominant basins, including the Permian, Bakken, and the Uinta. Additionally, we present and compare novel comprehensive wide-area airborne remote-sensing data and results for total area methane emissions and the relative contributions of diffuse and concentrated methane point sources as quantified using MethaneAIR in 2021. The MethaneAIR assessment showed reasonable agreement with independent regional methane quantification results in sub-regions of the Permian and Uinta basins and indicated that diffuse area sources accounted for the majority of the total oil and gas emissions in these two regions. Our assessment offers key insights into plausible underlying drivers of basin-to-basin variabilities in oil and gas methane emissions, emphasizing the importance of integrating measurement-based data when developing high-resolution spatially explicit methane inventories in support of accurate methane assessment, attribution, and mitigation. The high-resolution spatially explicit EI-ME inventory is publicly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10734299 (Omara, 2024).

Life cycle assessment of power-to-methane and renewable methane production technologies

The role of renewable energy, such as biogas or renewable methane is important for decarbonisation of the energy sector. This study analyses environmental impacts of renewable methane production from seven different technologies including wind- and solar-powered electrolysis and methanation with direct air-captured CO2, anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, pig and dairy manure, and food waste, as well as landfill gas upgrade. Life cycle impact assessment using ReCiPe 2016 method found that sewage sludge system exhibited the highest global warming impact due to electricity consumption during digestate dewatering by centrifuge, whereas anaerobic digestion of pig manure in a covered lagoon with digestate dewatering in Geotube® demonstrated the lowest impact. When centrifuge and Geotube® were compared for the same production system, Geotube® had 78 % lower global warming impact than dewatering with centrifuge. Overall, less energy and resource requirements, and environmental credits assigned to avoided products, such as mineral fertiliser and air-captured CO2 led to lower impacts, where seven out of 11 production systems presented lower global warming impacts than natural gas, indicating potential reduction of emissions by substituting natural gas with renewable methane. Increasing efficiency of wind and solar electricity appeared to be more sensitive than increasing efficiency of electrolyser, while transport distance of the landfill gas had significant effect on the global warming impacts. Production of renewable methane from waste can be promoted by various supports, such as carbon credits, amendment of national gas standard, and waste management policies for energy recovery.

Decoupling framework for large-scale energy systems simultaneously addressing carbon emissions and energy flow relationships through sector units: A case study on uncertainty in China's carbon emission targets

The energy system requires meticulous planning to achieve low-carbon development goals cost-effectively. However, optimizing large-scale energy systems with high spatial-temporal resolution and a rich variety of technologies has always been a challenge due to limited computational resources. Therefore, this study proposes a soft-linkage framework to deconstruct large-scale energy system optimization models based on sectors while ensuring the total carbon emission limit and the electricity supply-demand balance. Using China's energy system as a case study, the impact of uncertainty on emission reduction targets is analyzed. A long-term emission target curve is only described by the total carbon budget and its temporal distribution. Results show that different carbon budget time series can lead to total transition cost variations of up to nearly 100 trillion yuan. Moreover, although a lower carbon budget would increase the total cumulative transition cost quadratically, excessively high carbon budgets raise national natural gas demand, threatening energy security.

Biomethane and Green Hydrogen Production Potential from Municipal Solid Waste in Cape Coast, Ghana.

Biomethane and hydrogen are promising elements in the transition towards sustainable energy, due to their capacity to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. In Ghana, efforts to promote sustainable waste valorization for energy production are underway; however, organic waste conversion into biomethane and hydrogen still needs to be expanded. This study aims to evaluate the potential of producing biomethane and hydrogen from the municipal solid waste in Cape Coast, and their injection into the national gas grid. The upgrading biogas obtained from anaerobic digestion of food/organic wastes was used to generate biomethane. The modified Buswell Equation and data from literature were used to estimate the amount of biomethane and hydrogen. The environmental impact was assessed using the CO2 equivalent emissions. The findings reveal that Cape Coast generated approximately 6,400 tons of food waste in 2021, with a projection to 11,000 tons by 2050. Biomethane and hydrogen quantities was estimated at 3,700,000 m³ and 784,000 kg in 2021, respectively. Their projection reaches to 6,600,000 m³ and 1,400,000 kg by 2050. Converting waste into biomethane and hydrogen is an eco-friendly method of their management and use for renewable energy in Ghana. Strategies can be integrated into Ghana national energy policies to encourage waste-to-energy projects.

Viscosity of Hydrogen and Methane Blends: Experimental and Modelling Investigations

Understanding of thermophysical and transport properties of H2-NG blends are needed for the gradual introduction of hydrogen into the national gas grid. A capillary tube viscometer was used to measure the viscosity of hydrogen + methane blends (with hydrogen mole fraction = 0, 0.1000, 0.1997, 0.5019, and 1) at temperatures from 213 to 324 K and pressures up to 31 MPa. A total 147 experimental viscosity measurements were made for the three H2 + CH4 blends and compared against the predictions of five different viscosity models: a one-reference corresponding states (Pedersen) model, a two-reference corresponding states (CS2) model, an extended corresponding states (ECS) model, a corresponding states model derived from molecular dynamic simulations of Lennard Jones (LJ) fluids, and a residual entropy scaling (SRES) method. All the model predictions showed a relatively low deviation compared to the measured viscosities. The density required for viscosity model predictions were computed using Multi-Fluid Helmholtz Energy Approximation (MFHEA) equations of state (EoS). To check the experimental procedure and applicability of the viscometer equipment, viscosity validation measurements were carried out for propane, hydrogen, and methane. The measured viscosities of the pure components were in good agreement with the respective viscosity models with AARD of 0.24%, 0.25%, and 0.58% for propane, hydrogen, and methane, respectively.Graphical

Optimization of Interconnected Natural Gas and Power Systems Using Mathematical Programs with Complementarity Constraints

The demand for thermal power generation from natural gas has increased globally due to its cleaner burning properties compared to other fossil fuels. Optimizing the gas flow through the network to meet this demand is challenging due to the nonconvex Weymouth equation constraining gas flow and nodal pressures in pipelines. Traditional methods for addressing this nonconvexity lead to significant approximation errors or high operational costs. This study poses the Weymouth constraint as a Mathematical Programming with Complementarity Constraints (MPCC) for an optimal gas flow problem. The complementarity constraints reformulate the discontinuous sign function using binary-behaving continuous variables. This MPCC-based approach avoids solving mixed-integer programming problems while enhancing the accuracy of conventional linear and second-order approximations. Testing the approach on various interconnected systems, including Colombia’s national gas transportation grid, demonstrated significant reductions in Weymouth approximation errors, thereby supporting effective optimization for interconnected networks.

Rozwiązania instytucjonalne na rzecz rozwoju konkurencyjności sektora gazu ziemnego w UE

The study explores the subject of sectoral competitiveness on the example of gas sectors in different European countries. Literature review on sectoral competitiveness suggests that the concept has evolved considerably over time and that contemporary definitions of competitiveness span beyond traditional economic factors. Studies on gas sector in this context to date, however, have largely focused on export competitiveness of upstream activities. To address the research gap, a targeted approach is suggested to study and compare competitiveness of the entire national gas sectors, spanning beyond standard productivity measures. A dedicated synthetic indicator is designed to perform a comparative analysis of contemporary gas sectors, taking account of the gas price offered to the industry, institutional performance, infrastructure readiness and job creation potential. Then, the case study is presented and it examines four countries that have liberalized their gas sectors and are reliant on gas imports to a different degree. Results confirm that the application of a synthetic indicator factoring in different aspects of sectoral competitiveness is appropriate to arrive at a holistic view of gas sector’s relative performance. The significance of the institutional setup is also confirmed from the perspective of inducing investment, enhancing market liquidity, as well as creating sustainable jobs in the gas sector.

Key Factors Affecting the Success of Construction Multi Project Management

Simultaneous management of multiple projects has become a trend in the field of energy, oil and gas construction project management over the past decade. This situation is driven by the high market demand and need for fossil fuels, which also stresses project management discipline to improve its performance and efficiency in managing multiple projects simultaneously. Nevertheless, concurrent execution of multiple construction projects often leads to stretched the project durations and cost due to suboptimal resource management, which may become a boomerang and increase project costs. The objective of this study is to identify factors and indicators that contribute to the successful management of multiple projects. Although multi-project management has been extensively studied, there is still a dearth of studies analyzing the elements that make construction multi-project management successful, particularly in the energy, oil, and gas sectors. This research is a case study of an EPCIC company that uses multi-project management and operates in the oil and gas sector. Through purposive sampling techniques, a total of 58 executives from national oil and gas contractors with significant work experience participated in this study through a questionnaire survey. The PLS-SEM approach has revealed that the positive predictor factors influencing the success/performance of multi-project management are resource allocation, teamwork quality, multi-project management competency, and project manager assignment. Flexible and intelligent resource allocation management in multi-project cycles affected by uncertainty is a critical factor.

A new multi-function smart electricity measurement device

Algeria's national gas and power provider is called Sonelgaz. It is in charge of producing, distributing, and transmitting power throughout the nation. Sonelgaz has encountered several difficulties in effectively supplying electricity to consumers and keeping track of their usage over the years. One of the primary problems is that client consumption is not accurately metered. Algeria has a large number of old power meters that don't give precise readings of the real electrical usage. Customers receive inaccurate bills as a result of this. It also makes it more challenging for Sonelgaz to monitor usage trends and detect power thieves. Poor metering infrastructure has led to disputes between Sonelgaz and customers over excess bills. In recent years, the idea of a smart power meter has become increasingly popular all around the world. Traditionally, readings must be taken in the meter reading room. As a result, tracking and keeping tabs on your electricity usage is a time-consuming and annoying chore. Furthermore, a lot of us worry about our large electricity bills at the end of the month, therefore, we have to periodically check the energy meter. However, what if we could track how much electricity we consume from anywhere in the world? In this paper, we will develop a new multi-function smart electricity measurement device using an ESP32 microcontroller and the mobile Blynk app. The smart electricity measurement device displays the voltage, current, power factor, and power consumption in real time. In addition, it displays the cost of electricity in dollars and the total energy consumed in kWh, saving you both time and money. The consumer's electricity will be remotely off if the bills are not paid.

The impact of a zero-flaring system on gas plants, environment, and health

Continuous natural gas flaring wastes significant energy resources and increases greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming. Our work provides an overview of a technique to recover flare gas and reduce CO2 emissions to a minimum level. There are two methods to recover flare gas: the recovery of natural gas liquids and sales gas production by existing LPG unit and the production of liquid fuels by mini-GTL unit (gas to liquid). This study was conducted using real data from the field. All cases were simulated using Aspen HYSYS software. The mini-GTL unit is modeled using an autothermal reforming method. CO2 emissions will be reduced by 107.68 tonne/day in both methods. Economic analyses revealed that the NGL and sales gas product has a net present value (NPV) of 77.03 MMUSD, while the mini-GTL product has an NPV of 73.7 MMUSD. The study showed that we could extract natural gas liquids (NGLs), including propane, LPG, and sales gas, from the flare gas or convert it to liquid products, including gasoline and diesel. The expected internal rate of return (IRR) and payout time (POT) for NGL and sales gas method are 150.73% and 0.27 years, respectively. The mini-GTL method is recommended due to Egypt’s petroleum fuel shortage and the best solution without an entry point to the Egyptian national gas grid in the plant. However, the IRR and POT for the mini-GTL method are 30.09% and 1.19 years, respectively, and it needs more CAPEX than the NGL and sales gas method.Graphical

Optimizing petroleum redistribution in Sri Lanka: A cost-benefit transportation model

This case study is based on Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Sri Lanka, the national oil and gas company and market leader in Sri Lanka. The company’s outbound logistics consists of a centralized distribution method and a redistribution process of its products across the island. However, this study mainly focused on one regional depot and one petroleum product, Kotagala depot and Lanka Auto Diesel. The currently centralized redistribution process has noticed extra routing costs due to the unreasonable consumption of additional distance. This problem is modelled as a variant of the vehicle routing problem with a heterogeneous vehicle fleet. Our objective is to minimize the routing costs (or milk-run) by imposing constraints on the capacity and the volume. The researcher introduces a centralized vehicle routing problem that is presented. The proposed vehicle routing problem has been used to find the optimal path between clusters. The computational investigation highlights the cost savings that this new VRP can accrue. Cost savings can be accrued as large as 32.35% compared to a company's existing method.

Carbon capture storage and carbon capture utilization storage as energy transition strategy for the Indonesian oil and gas sector towards net zero emissions

The transportation and industrial sectors are the backbone of the Indonesian economy. These two sectors can grow and develop because of the support of energy from oil and gas or electricity from fossil sources. Meanwhile, energy from fossil sources, especially oil and gas, is one source of CO2 emissions that must be reduced. The Indonesian government continues to increase oil and gas production to meet domestic needs. On the other hand, the government is also trying to reduce emissions towards Net Zero Emissions by 2060 in line with the ratification of the Paris Agreement, with a target of reducing emissions by 314 million tons of CO2e in 2030 and 1,526 million tons of CO2e 30 years later. This condition is certainly a challenge for the government and the national oil and gas sector to achieve this target, the government has presented several strategies to boost upstream oil and gas investment while meeting the NZE target. Carbon Capture Storage and Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage are one of the technologies of choice in the oil and gas sector in the energy transition period towards NZE. This strategy was chosen because it has great potential in carbon capture and can be used to increase oil production. The application picks up after 2025, with the amount of CO2 captured potentially 6 million tons annually in 2030 and reaching around 160 million tons annually in 2060.

Evaluation of the Performance of Operations Management in the Industrial Sector at the National Gas and Industrialization Company (GASCO), headquartered in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia

Operations play a major role in the LPG industry where the business involves suppliers, some of who are the business owners and customers. Organizations in the LPG industry are faced with challenges in their quest to deliver their products to consumers while concurrently ensuring profitability. Thus, they have to tailor their business operations practices to fit the market. This scientific research aims to see to what extent operations management practices are being undertaken in the National Gas and Industrialization Co. (GASCO) headquarter in Riyadh city that also it owns seven (7) filling stations and a transportation and distribution fleet in Saudi Arabia by studying their supply chain and their process to determine how they impact on the operational performance of the factories. The target population in this study was the National Gas and Industrialization Co. (GASCO) headquarter in Riyadh city that also it owns seven (7) filling stations and a transportation and distribution fleet in Saudi Arabia. Primary data on the project implementation was collected using a questionnaire. Secondary data was obtained from relevant publications and literature review from the different organizations. Data was presented using tables, and pie charts to make them reader friendly and this study conducted a multiple regression analysis. Multiple regression analysis was used to establish the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The study found that there is a positive significant relationship between supply chain, lean management, value stream mapping, machine maintenance and operational performance. However, the study found a negative relationship between constraints and operational performance of an organization. The study recommends that factories should be urged to adopt all the practices under supply chain management, adoption of communication channels enhancement among all the staff working in various departments to improve value stream mapping. The study further, recommends that National Gas and Industrialization Co. (GASCO) headquartered in Riyadh city that also it owns seven (7) filling stations and a transportation and distribution fleet in Saudi Arabia should have a skilled LPG manpower to handle issues on machine maintenance and replacement as this will lead to continued production.

Analysis of the performance of financial and economic activities of national oil and gas enterprises (on the example of Uzbekneftegaz JSC)

Currently, in the Republic of Uzbekistan, unlike the economies of a number of border countries, such as Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the oil and gas industry, which includes enterprises engaged in the production of hydrocarbons, their processing at various levels, supply and sale to consumers, is one of the leading sectors of the country’s economy. To support the oil and gas industry in organizing the extraction and production of goods with high added value, it is necessary to create long trade and production chains for advanced processing of raw materials, the formation of large production associations that make it possible to benefit from economies of scale in production. In this article, the contribution of the oil and gas complex industry to the country's economy, the areas of activity are considered on the example of the joint-stock company «Uzbekneftgaz», which is the leader in the field. The position of society in the market and the existing risks in financial and economic activity are considered on the basis of SWOT analysis. We conducted a small analysis of the current situation in the oil and gas market, assessed the activities of one of the leading national companies in the region and the indicators of its development. In our opinion, this analysis allows us to see the development and improvement of companies from a development point of view. Keywords: environmental; SWOT analysis; liquidity; investments; net profit; expenses; rating agencies; hydrocarbon reserves.

The Role of the National Gas Policy on the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry and Economic Growth

This study examined the relationship between real GDP, electricity supply, and the National Gas Policy (NGP) in Nigeria, using annual time series data from 1981 to 2019. To achieve its aim, the study explores how the NGP might influence future economic growth, natural gas reserves and electricity supply. Econometric techniques are employed for analysis, where real GDP is dependent variable, and the NGP is the dummy explanatory variable alongside other explanatory variables. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller and Phillip Perron Methods were used for unit root tests. The ARDL bounds tests indicated evidence of co-integration and long-run relationships among the variables. From the results, electricity supply and the NGP have a positive and significant relationship with real GDP. Consumer Price Index (CPI), a control variable, had a negative and significant relationship with real GDP in the short run. Also, the Error Correction Term is -0.2228. Consequently, the speed of adjustment for the model to return to long-run equilibrium after a shock is 22.28%. The study also found that the current two (2) percent annual growth rate of proven NG reserves is inadequate to cater for the rapid growth in the NG sector considering the positive effect of the NGP. The study, therefore, recommends that policymakers should continue to promote the NGP programme because it contributes positively to real GDP. In addition, consideration should be given to a diverse energy mix policy to reduce the over-reliance of electricity generation on NG-fired power plants, consequently, policymakers should promote policies that will lead to the diversification of the energy source for power generation.

The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility in Supporting the Achievement of Firm Performance in The National Oil and Gas Companies of Indonesia

The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility in Supporting the Achievement of Firm Performance in The National Oil and Gas Companies of Indonesia

Pipeline failure evaluation and prediction using failure probability and neural network based on measured data

The chemical corrosion of metals in large industries such as oil and gas is a fundamental and costly problem. Gas transmission and distribution pipes and the other structures submerged in the soil and in an electrolyte, according to the existing conditions and according to the metallurgical structure, are corroded, and after a period of work, they disrupt an active system and process and lead to loss. The worst corrosion that occurs for metals embedded in the soil is where there are stray electric currents. Based on this, the cathodic protection of metal pipes is known as the most effective protection method to prevent the corrosion of structures buried in the ground, which is widely used to protect the corrosion distribution and transmission pipes of gas, oil, and water. In gas networks, current and voltage measurements for cathodic protection are carried out and recorded in specific periods according to the standards approved by the National Gas Company. The effect of stray currents on the obtained results is significant. The reason for this is that the available data is recorded as a time series, and as a result, the critical value of this time series will significantly impact the remaining life of the gas pipelines. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to investigate the stray currents effect on failure rate using normal probability distribution. In the following, the estimation of the remaining useful life of gas pipelines under cathodic protection is obtained using neural networks and compared with the results of the failure probability to check the accuracy of the results. According to the data history of the equipment, the amount of failure and the remaining useful life of the gas pipelines will be obtained.