National Gas Research Articles

The Traceability Improvement and Comparison of Bell Prover as the Indonesian National Standard of Gas Volume Flow Rate

Traceability is urgent to guarantee the truth of measurement, particularly for National Standard. Although a bell prover facility has established as the national low pressure gas flow standard of Indonesia since 2008, the measurement capability (15 to 1400 L/min, U95 = 0.20%) of the bell prover has not been traceable to SI Units. Moreover, displacement values provided by the bell prover’s manufacturer by rotary encoder method are still used. The limit detector by optical sensor to measure displacement is worthy to achieve dimensional traceability which can be switched by ultrasonic sensor for reasonable solution. The aim of this study is to improve the traceability of the bell prover by reasonable solution and then validate the gas volume flow rate measurement by inter-laboratory comparison. The Center for Measurement Standards (CMS), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), was invited to participate in the bilateral comparison, and a gas turbine flow meter was used as the transfer standard. The bell prover has been successfully traceable to SI units, particularly displacement measurement through flying start/stop method by limit of ultrasonic sensor (250 to 1200 L/min, U95 = 0.80% passing assessment report). Despite having larger uncertainty than manufacturer specification, the results are better for more in of layer comparison. Because the effect of turbine drift should be a concern, the gap of measurement time for inter-laboratory comparison is recommended to minimize as many as possible. Furthermore, the measurement range of bell prover should be reduced as reasonability purpose.

Geochemistry, origin and accumulation of natural gas hydrates in the Qiongdongnan Basin, South China Sea: Implications from site GMGS5-W08

The recent discovery of natural gas hydrates in the Qiongdongnan Basin (QDNB) during the fifth “China National Gas Hydrate Drilling Expedition” (GMGS5) confirms the great potential of gas hydrate resources within this basin. Based on the comprehensive geochemical investigation of the hydrate-related gas and hydrate-bearing sediments collected from the drilled site GMGS5-W08, this study determines the source and accumulation mechanism of gas hydrates. The hydrate-related gases from the site GMGS5-W08 consist of abundant methane (81.21%–97.69%) and some C2+ hydrocarbon gases (2.31%–18.79%). The stable carbon isotopic compositions of C1–C3 hydrocarbon gas components indicate that the methane has a mixed microbial and thermogenic origin (−59.5‰<δ13C1<−48.8‰), while the C2+ hydrocarbon gases are of thermogenic origin derived from coaly-type source rocks (−27.5‰<δ13C2<−22.4‰, −23.2‰<δ13C3<−20.2‰). The sediment samples collected at site GMGS5-W08 are characterized by low total organic carbon (TOC) contents (mostly < 0.4%), low hydrocarbon indices (mostly < 50 mg HC/g TOC), and low in situ temperatures (3.5°C-21°C), suggesting a poor microbial gas generation potential for the in situ uncompacted sediments. The extracts of the hydrate-bearing sediments are composed of in situ immature terrigenous organic matters and allochthonous mature hydrocarbons from the deeply buried strata. The allochthonous hydrocarbons (C14+ components) approximately originate from the low mature to mature marine mudstones (0.75%<calculated vitrinite reflectance (%Rc)<0.87%) of the Miocene Sanya and Meishan formations. The accumulation process of hydrate gas at site GMGS5-W08 can be subdivided into three stages: migration of gas and liquid hydrocarbons (stage I), gas accumulation, pressure increase, and microbial alteration (stage II), and pressure release, gas chimney and gas hydrate occurrence (stage III). The microbial methane within the gas hydrates is mainly derived from the secondary microbial methane generated in stage II and primary microbial methane generated from sediments within the zone of optimal temperature (35°C–75°C).

The Overview of Mental Workload of Health Safety and Environment Workers in Oil and Gas Industry

Introduction: PT. Pertamina RU IV Cilacap is a national oil and gas industry that has the largest refinery in Southeast Asia that manages raw materials for other refinery units in Indonesia to be reprocessed into fuel. The size of the refinery can illustrate the complexity of the system run by this unit. The HSE Unit in this company has a great responsibility to maintain the worker safety in the refinery. It is necessary to measure mental workload on HSE workers. This is because if the mental workload is not monitored, it can cause fatality, in this case, work accidents as a result of lack of supervision from HSE workers and mental PAK related to HSE workers resulting in excessive mental workload or property loss as an outcome of excessive mental workload. So, it is important to portray the HSE mental workload because of its responsibility to secure the health, safety and environmental issues. The purpose of this study was to describe the heavy mental workload on PT. Pertamina RU IV Cilacap. Method: This research was a quantitative descriptive designed study. Data were obtained by conducting interviews and using the NASA-tlx questionnaire on 71 respondents. Results: As many as 35 respondents had heavy mental workloads and 31 respondents had very heavy mental workloads. Conclusion: HSE workers at PT. Pertamina RU IV Cilacap has a heavy mental workload and even tends to be very heavy.Keywords: mental workload, NASA-tlx, oil and gas industry

Key technologies, engineering management and important suggestions of shale oil/gas development: Case study of a Duvernay shale project in Western Canada Sedimentary Basin

The Duvernay project in Canada was taken as an example to summarize the advanced technology and engineering management model of shale oil and gas development in North America. Preliminary suggestions were put forward to accelerate the commercial development of domestic continental shale oil and gas. The advanced technologies, valuable knowledge and rich experience were introduced, including the evaluation of geological target area of the project, rapid long horizontal drilling and completion, high-intensity fracturing, and well spacing optimization. In particular, the concept and connotation of the full-life cycle management of North American unconventional resource projects were analyzed. Its emphasis on early evaluation and risk management, and a highly competitive market environment have played an important role in promoting technological innovation and management innovation. In addition, the low-cost sharing system of industry-wide knowledge and experience and the management mode were applied. These management approaches are of great significance for reference in accelerating the exploration and development of unconventional resources in China. China possesses abundant shale oil and gas resources, which are an important replacement to guarantee the national oil and gas energy supply. However, due to the late start and special geological characteristics and engineering difficulties in China, there is a large gap in technology level and management mode compared with North America. According to the advanced experience and enlightenment of the shale oil and gas development in North America, a preliminary proposal to accelerate the development of shale oil and gas in China was made.

Quantitative Risk Assessment of LNG Terminal

According to the report of Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology of Indonesia in 2019, it is stated that the demand for natural gas in Indonesia is predicted to increase from 1,516 Billions Standard Cubic Feet (BSCF) in 2017 to 4,723. BSCF or increase by an average of 3.5% per year in 2050. The most effective way in distributing natural gas nowadays is in the form of LNG. A national gas company together with a port company planned to build an LNG Terminal in a port area of Semarang, Central Java. This terminal will occupy the area based on the ultimate plan of the port which allocates the land expansion area of ± 5,200 m2 as liquid bulk area. The existing terminal is already being used as fuel storage for Methanol and High Speed Diesel (HSD). The designed LNG Terminal facilities consist of storage tanks with a capacity of 10,000 m3, LNG marine loading arm, filling stations, and equipped with jetty that capable to serve 22,000 m3 LNG vessel with length up to 160m. This paper addresses on the assessment of risk that may occur on the designed LNG Terminal. The risk assessment is carried out in several stages, beginning with identifying hazards using Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) followed by analysing the frequency of hazard using Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Event Tree Analysis (ETA) methods to find out the type potential hazards and its frequency. The next stage is the analysis of the consequences using fire modelling method is carried out. The level of risk is represented by mapping the result of frequency and the consequence analysis into f-N Curve according to UK-HSE. Mitigation by means of Layers of Protection Analysis (LOPA) is carried out if the risk is laid in unacceptable region.

Long-Term Prospects for Landscape Mitigation Programs

ABSTRACTThe alternative mitigation program that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) established in 2008 to address impacts to the archaeological resources in the Permian Basin of southeastern New Mexico, now one of the most active of the nation's oil and gas energy fields, has supported more than $10 million in field research programs and is poised to be able to fund about $1 million in field research annually for the foreseeable future. The financial success of the program is mirrored by the program's outstanding contributions to our understanding of the Permian Basin's long and complex history of human occupation. Surprisingly, although other public lands under the auspices of the BLM are seeing similar rates of energy development, the critical elements of this program have not been picked up elsewhere in the BLM. The Permian Basin program appears doomed to be an example of a “one-off” alternative mitigation solution. The factors barring more widespread adoption include the ebb and flow of energy production activity, complications arising from mixed land status and the ability to work across jurisdictional boundaries, hesitation to change procedures that are working adequately for the time being, and a lack of capacity to institute systemic change.

Timing and cause of the disappearance of some elongated taxa in the Indian Ocean: Study from NGHP Hole 17A

Disappearance of many elongated benthic foraminifera across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) is popularly known as ‘Stilostomella extinction’. This event is reported from several sites across the world and it is believed that most of the elongated benthic families disappeared within 0.76–0.5 Ma. It is assumed that the presence of cold bottom water triggered their disappearance. The present study is pursued on sediment cores collected from National Gas Hydrate Program Hole 17A, Andaman Sea, Indian Ocean to examine the precise timing and cause of the disappearance of elongated taxa as well as their ecological preference. Our study reveals that elongated species prefer warm and low to intermediate food condition. This study documents the disappearance of 5 major species and 13 minor species from 0.6 to 0.2 Ma which is younger than the earlier estimates. We assume that change in 41–100 kyr climatic cycle along the MPT was responsible for a major decline in their number. However, amplified glacial–interglacial cycles along Mid-Brunhes (0.5–0.2 Ma) finally played a major role in their disappearance. Both of these consecutive events extended intensified cooling and dropped the deep-ocean temperature by which the shallow infaunal elongated species disappeared and deep-infaunal species survived.

Designing naturally-conditioned dwellings for warm and cold-temperate regions of Chile

The central problem addressed by this paper is the fuel poverty experienced in Chile as a result of poor thermal performance of dwellings, a problem commonly encountered throughout the country, even in new housing. The domestic consumption of fuels used for thermal regulation of dwellings accounts for a large proportion of national energy use, gas emissions, and household expenditures. This study aims to alleviate these issues by presenting building designs that can provide comfortable indoor thermal conditions without a need for conventional energy fuels. Following the findings of field studies, the design of standard dwellings has been optimized using computational studies that were conducted with consideration for the country’s main climatic regions. The results of this study have shown that the application of passive design measures can be sufficient for achieving thermal comfort conditions, thereby reducing the use of domestic fuels to near-zero levels in most of the country.

Integration of weather forecast and artificial intelligence for a short-term city-scale natural gas consumption prediction

Ruled by the directives and regulations adopted by the European Commission, the European natural gas market is obliged to enable free competition. This process has just started in the Serbian market, and the national natural gas provider (Srbijagas) has started its restructuring. To attain the objective of natural gas market liberalization, it is essential to accurately plan capacities and make precise predictions of future peak consumption at all levels of trade. In this research, an hourly city-scale Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System algorithm with the Gaussian membership function is developed for both heating and non-heating regimes. In order to upgrade previous studies in this field, besides standard gas consumption and weather variables, hourly weather forecast and lower calorific value were added to the model. The model output is predicted hour-ahead natural gas consumption. To measure the predicting performance of the two models proposed in this research, the Coefficient of Determination and Mean Absolute Percentage Error were used. For the considered hourly consumption forecast of heating and non-heating models, the Coefficients of Determination were 0.99, while the overall (training, testing and checking) Mean Absolute Percentage Error values were 3.0% and 3.4% respectively. Based on these performance metrics, it can be concluded that for both models, the proposed algorithm resulted in a very satisfactory forecast. An adequate prediction of future natural gas consumption would support all market stakeholders, leading to the development a cleaner and sustainable energy system.

The Role of Sodium-alkali Waste Gas Washing and Desulfurization Technology in the Exhaust Gas Treatment of Marine Diesel Engines

to reduce the concentration of sulfur oxide in the exhaust gas of marine diesel engines, the application of sodium-alkali waste gas washing and desulfurization technology in the exhaust gas treatment of marine diesel engines is explored. First, the reaction mechanism of sodium-alkali wet washing desulfurization technology is introduced, including the absorption process model of sulfur oxide, the absorption rate equation, the equation for absorbing sulfur oxide in aqueous solution, and the process of dissolving and absorbing sulfur oxide in sodium hydroxide solution. Then, a method to improve the absorption rate of sulfur oxides is proposed. Finally, the influence of load and pH of washing solution on desulfurization efficiency is discussed. The results show that the sodium-alkali waste gas washing and desulfurization technology has a good desulfurization efficiency. The desulfurization efficiency under different loads is more than 99%, and the maximum is 99.7%, which meets the desulfurization requirements of the national heavy oil exhaust gas treatment system. The higher the pH of washing solution, the more obvious the desulfurization efficiency. The results of this research provide a theoretical basis for the development of Chinese ships.

Knowledge, Awareness and Perception of National Gas Policy (NGP) 2017 among Oil and Gas Legal Experts in Nigeria

Knowledge, Awareness and Perception of National Gas Policy (NGP) 2017 among Oil and Gas Legal Experts in Nigeria

The Evolving Role of Oil and Gas Companies in the Energy Industry

This paper provides a review of the evolving role and characteristics of the global oil and gas companies, which increasingly come in a variety of flavors. It also surveys the different types of global oil and gas companies that include national oil companies (NOCs), international oil companies (IOCs), Independents, and oilfield services companies (OFSCs). The continued rise of NOCs, accelerated by high oil prices, has seen the balance of control over most of the world’s hydrocarbon resources shift decisively in their favor. Their ability to access capital, human resources and technical services directly from oil field service companies, and to build in-house competencies, allows them to operate independently of Investor Owned Companies in most instances. The demand on NOCs continues to evolve with the global energy landscape to reflect variations in demand, discovery of new ultra-deep water oil deposits, and national and geopolitical developments. NOCs, traditionally viewed as the custodians of their country's natural resources, have generally owned and managed the complete national oil and gas supply chain from upstream to downstream activities. Having secured their home base, NOCs have emerged as joint venture partners with the IOCs and increasingly as their competitors, seeking international upstream and downstream acquisition and asset targets. The key question is whether this emerging landscape will undermine the sustainability of the IOC resource-ownership business model. Are the challenges of declining production in existing oil fields replacing oil and gas reserves in restricted access or higher cost areas, and the declining of the operating profit margins yet sufficient to reach a tipping point?

Differential enrichment of shale gas in upper Ordovician and lower Silurian controlled by the plate tectonics of the Middle-Upper Yangtze, south China

Abstract The Upper Ordovician Wufeng Formation and Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation marine shale are the major shale gas exploration and development target in the Middle-Upper Yangtze region. Although three national shale gas demonstration areas have been built and several high-yield shale gas wells have been discovered in the Wufeng Formation and Longmaxi Formation, shale gas in these areas has not been fully commercialized because the enrichment degree of shale gas varies greatly in different tectonic settings. By analyzing the formation processes and distribution characteristics of the organic-rich shale, reconstructing the burial history and hydrocarbon generation history, and comparing the shale gas enrichment and preservation conditions in different tectonic settings in South China, this paper points out that (1) The craton depression and foreland basin on the cratonic margin are favorable zones for the development of organic-rich shale. Because the Yangtze plate is small, the foreland basin is greatly affected by the input of terrigenous clastic and the thickness and area of organic-rich shale in the craton basin is larger than that in the foreland basin. The organic-rich shale is mainly distributed in south Sichuan deep-water shelf and west Hubei-east Chongqing deep-water shelf, and the enrichment interval is the Dillcellograptus complexus-Cystograptus Vesicolus graptolite zone from the Wufeng Formation to the bottom of Longmaxi Formation are favorable intervals for shale gas enrichment. (2) Since the Late Jurassic, significant differential intracontinental tectonic deformation, uplift and denudation occurred in the Middle-Upper Yangtze region. Moderate compression and uplift were beneficial to the development of micro-fractures and bedding fractures in shale, resulting in good preservation conditions of shale gas reservoirs with a high-pressure coefficient. In contrast, strongly deformed areas, where faults and high-angle large fractures were developed, are not conducive to the preservation of shale gas reservoirs. (3) The craton depression of the Middle-Upper Yangtze region, where organic-rich shale was deposited, is favorable to shale gas enrichment because it provides a good material basis, and also a relatively stable and compression-resistant tectonic environment for later tectonic deformation and uplift-derived destruction. Based on the analysis and evaluation of tectonic construction–transformation conditions under the macro-control of plate tectonics, it can well explain the existing commercial shale gas discoveries and failure cases and can guide the optimization of future exploration targets.

Natural gas market and underground gas storage development in China

Abstract Due to the revolution of the economic growth, urbanization, and low-carbon development of China, the proportion of natural gas in the national primary energy consumption has been growing rapidly in recent years. In the meanwhile, the contradiction between the supply and demand in China's natural gas market (NGM) has also been increasing gradually. Accordingly, the Chinese government has introduced a slew of policies to ease this contradiction. However, China's NGM is still facing many problems and challenges. The purpose of this study is to investigate the peak-shaving demand of the NGM in China, as well as to estimate the status and trend of underground gas storage (UGS) development for peak-shaving of the NGM. Firstly, the status and development direction of the NGM in China is discussed considering the supply and demand situation. The regional difference, the seasonal difference and the import impact are analyzed in detail to clarify the peak-shaving demand of national natural gas supply. Secondly, the status, direction, difficulties and challenges of UGS are discussed in depth. Finally, this study proposes some potential suggestions for the regulation of the NGM and the development of UGS in China.

The Impact of Communications Methods on Team’s Productivity and Performance - Oil and Gas case study

The development of multidisciplinary team communication in oil and Gas industry is a complex area that increasingly impact on team performance and achieve the common goals. Communication is the exchange of information through actions, speech and writing or symbols. Effective team communication increases; team member’s effectiveness and satisfaction because they are given the appropriate guidelines, tools and direction on how to accomplish tasks. Team members communicate via meeting, phone calls and emails. However, In the latest year’s communication tool has increased significantly as the business world has gone global and more virtual communication options are introduced, (i.e. Skype, WebEx and Smartphones). The aim of this paper was to assess the team communication process and quantity the issues, in order to avoid project delays and suboptimal performance. To determine the extent to which verbal communication approach has an impact among the organization behavior and on the integration, effectiveness and efficiency of the team. This paper had examined this subject in one of the national Oil and Gas company, and concluded that team productivity and performance are highly affected by the way of the communication and the best way is to have effective face-to-face meeting with clear objective in regular basis.

Applications of statistical process control in the management of unaccounted for gas

The phenomenon of Unaccounted-for-Gas (UAG) in natural gas transmission networks can be summarised as the failure to account for a percentage of network throughput on either side of the balancing equation - typically around 0.3% of throughput per annum, a cost directly absorbed by the transporter. This article presents a case study of historical UAG data from the UK's National Gas Transmission System, compromising two instances of significant under-reads amounting to 1617 GWh and 1141 GWh respectively. Statistical process control techniques are applied and the usefulness of such analysis in relation to drawing inferences about the system state is assessed. Practical difficulties relevant to the gas industry in particular are discussed. Whilst we focus on transmission in the UK, the techniques and analysis presented herein should be pertinent to most grids around the world. It is demonstrated that significant practical advantages can be gained by implementing statistical monitoring in the balancing process. The importance of using multiple such measures is highlighted, in addition to a thorough analysis of the UAG time series focusing on the presence of seasonality. Furthermore, we discuss issues regarding the quantification of UAG sources, and present practical numerical limits to online systematic error detection with gas time series data via a simulation study.

ANALISIS STRATEGI PENGEMBANGAN BISNIS PT PERUSAHAAN GAS NEGARA (Studi pada PGN Sales Area Semarang)

The use of gas for the domestic sector especially in Java island, is the largest consumer center in Indonesia. Natural gas providers face the main challenge of providing adequate supplies to meet the increasing demand. The BUMN company that sells and distributes its products in the form of natural gas in Central Java is the PGN Semarang sales area. As a company engaged in the service sector, a good strategy is needed so that the company can carry out all operational activities more efficient and effective.This study aims to analyze the National Gas Company business strategy (study at the Semarang PGN sales area). The type of research is qualitative descriptive analysis. The data collection technique by interviewing interviewees and direct observation. The number of speakers is 4 speakers, who are Head area and employees of the Semarang PGN sales area who are also the strategists. The results showed that the strategy developed by PGN Sales Area Semarang was the result of a SWOT Analysis based on alternative strategis. The implementation of the strategy implemented and obtained from the SWOT results has been effective because it is in accordance with the vision, the availability of HR (Human Resources), facilities and infrastructure that support PGN. Although there are several obstacles in implementing its strategy, PGN Sales Area Semarang is committed to continue to improve the implementation of its strategy in the distribution of natural gas in Semarang.Suggestions for this research are the addition of CNG fleet in meeting natural gas needs, increase distribution of gas sales due to gas supply continuity, increase and improve the size for the effectiveness of strategy implementation, socializing the use of BBG to the public, provide excellent service to customers, doing routine monitoring and evaluation related to ths implementation of PGN's business development strategy.

Natural Gas Industry Restructuring for Value Optimisation: A Case Study of Ghana

The global natural gas industry in emerging oil and gas producing countries faces the challenge of restructuring and regulations, making industry conduct revaluation inevitable. The main concern in restructuring the natural gas industry in these economies is how to break previously vertically integrated companies into separate business entities under an appropriate market structure along the gas value chain. There are two schools of thoughts on how to restructure the natural gas industry. The traditional school of thought favours a vertically integrated structure and the liberal school of thought advocates for competitive-based structures encompassing different regulatory reforms including ownership unbundling. The natural gas industry in Ghana, though nascent, is growing due mainly to rising demand for electricity, at about 5.8% annually. Currently GNPC owns the upstream gas, midstream infrastructures and champions final gas delivery to downstream consumers. Gas price harmonization, easing contractual agreements, maintaining the survival of GNGC, and energy security reasons are among the policy factors that seem to favour a state-owned vertically integrated structure. The aim of this paper is to examine and determine the industry structure that is optimal to sustain Ghana energy supply mix. The paper offers two natural gas industry structure models to describe the effect of unbundling infrastructure ownership of natural gas along its value chain on energy supply mix in Ghana. The paper suggests maintaining the aggregating role of GNPC is appropriate. However, the paper recommends unbundling infrastructure ownership from upstream natural gas owners. Thus, the Gas Processing Plants and Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) transmission pipelines need an independent entity to operate the GNGC transmission pipeline as the National Gas Transmission Utility (NGTU) with open access allow IPPs equal access to natural gas at the market hubs.

Construction and application of national natural gas security indicator system

Construction and application of national natural gas security indicator system

Wardens of the Toxic World: German Women's Encounters with the Gas Mask, 1915–1945

This paper examines German women's interactions with the gas mask in order to interrogate the role of a specific technology in the contestations over female social and political participation between the two World Wars. While national air and gas protection was predominantly posited as a male activity in the Weimar Republic, familiarization with the gas mask offered increased formal opportunity and responsibility for women in the Third Reich. Female air wardens' embrace of such technology, in this particular historical instance, was laden with the authoritarian and patriarchal values of the Nazi regime and the violent politics of the gas mask itself.