Shale Gas Revolution Research Articles

A Model-Based Optimisation Approach for Process Synthesis of Olefins from Petroleum with Application to the Malaysian Petrochemical Industry

The shale gas revolution has rekindled interest in olefins production due to the abundance of ethane as a raw material resource. However, the main technology still revolves around the cost-intensive distillation operation. Hence this work aims to investigate the economic optimisation of olefins synthesis from petroleum in the light of recent developments. A model-based approach is applied to determine the optimal sequencing of separation and reaction processes for a multi-component hydrocarbon mixture feed to produce mainly ethylene and propylene. a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) is formulated based on a superstructure that captures numerous plausible synthesis alternatives. The model comprises linear mass balance reactor representation and simple sharp distillation based on split fractions for product recovery. Integer binary variablesis used for selecting the task for equipment and continuous variables for representing the flowrate of each task. To expedite converging to an optimal solution of a least total annualised cost configuration, the formulation is appended with logical constraints on the design and structural specifications derived from heuristics based on practical knowledge and experience. The modelling approach on actual case studies based on two such petrochemical facilities operating in Malaysia is implemented. Additionally, the solution analysis is enriched with the investigation on a second- and third-best (suboptimal) configurations obtained through appropriate integer cuts as constraints to the model. The results show good agreement with existing plant configurations, thus substantiating the value and verification of the proposed model-based optimisation approach.

Reflections and suggestions on the development and engineering management of shale gas fracturing technology in China

Shale gas resource in China is greatly different from that in the North America in term of natural endowment, so North America's experience and practice of shale gas revolution shall not be copied blindly in China. In order to realize scale effective development of shale gas resource in China, we analyzed and summarized the status quo of domestic shale gas stimulation technologies referring to the advanced concepts of shale gas development in the North America, considering the actual situations of shale gas resource in China. Then, some suggestions were proposed on the development direction of key shale gas fracturing technologies and the enhancement of engineering management. First, a data volume that integrates geological, engineering and production information is the base for designing and optimizing all segments of shale gas exploration, development and production. Therefore, it is necessary to break the “data isolated island”, strengthen data mining and improve the data application efficiency, so as to promote the integration of geo-engineering data fusion. Second, the geomechanics test & evaluation method and technology suitable for shale reservoirs shall be developed and improved by taking into consideration the anisotropic mechanical behaviors and ground stress characteristics of shale reservoirs, so as to increase the design level of geo-engineering integration program. Third, it is necessary to develop the dissolvable bridge plug, improve operation the efficiency of staged fracturing and reduce the operation risk, so as to achieve cost reduction and benefit increase of shale gas development. Fourth, there is still great room for the improvement of the engineering management system, which is worth exploring and studying further. Therefore, oil & gas industry and companies shall seize this critical strategic opportunity to actively optimize the current engineering management pattern and seek the optimal approach to quality improving and benefit increasing. In conclusion, the exploration and development of shale gas in China is currently in the early stage and there is an obvious gap compared with foreign countries in terms of technology & equipment, production management, exploration and development achievement and policy & regulation. Therefore, it is in an urgent need to innovatively explore a way feasible for the actual shale gas development in China based on the resource conditions of its own after referring, digesting and absorbing the hydraulic fracturing experience and management concept of shale gas revolution in the United States.

Feasibility of Using Small-Scale GTL Plants To Mitigate Flaring in North Dakota Evaluated

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Judy Feder, contains highlights of paper SPE 195209, “Evaluation of Small-Scale Gas-to-Liquid Economic Feasibility To Mitigate North Dakota Flaring Issues,” by Pascoela da Silva Sequeira and Rouzbeh Ghanbarnezhad Moghanloo, SPE, University of Oklahoma, prepared for the 2019 SPE Oklahoma City Oil and Gas Symposium, 9–10 April, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Booming shale gas production in the United States has created excess capacity, which has caused natural gas prices to plummet and significant percentages of production to be flared. On the other hand, the country’s imports of crude oil and its production of diesel, gasoline, and other products is increasing. Mitigating this situation depends on finding practical, economical, and efficient ways of making natural gas marketable. A potential solution is small-scale gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants. The complete paper describes a Monte Carlo simulation approach and field analysis showing that a small-scale GTL plant in North Dakota could be a profitable solution to mitigating the state’s current flaring rate of 35% of the natural gas produced. Introduction The shale gas revolution has negatively affected natural gas prices. According to the US Energy Information Administration, dry natural gas production in the US will increase through 2050 by 59%, from 73.6 Bcf/D in 2017 to 118 Bcf/D in 2050, and the price of natural gas will remain lower than $6.00/MMBtu throughout the same period, causing producers to vent and flare excessive gas. In 2017 alone, the total natural gas flared in the US was approximately 335 Bcf, according to the World Bank-led Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership. Most intense natural gas flaring occurs in fields that are far from consumers and transportation infrastructures such as interstate pipelines. Some of the heaviest flaring comes from the Bakken Field in North Dakota. While most of the natural gas consumers in the US are located along the East coast, the Bakken’s distance from the seaboard makes transportation of the produced natural gas difficult. Natural gas production in North Dakota reached a record high of 1.94 Bcf/D in August 2017, and as a result of the lack of infrastructure to collect, gather, and transport it, more than 35% of the gross withdrawals were flared rather than marketed. By October 2018, production had increased to 2.04 Bcf/D, with 20%, or 527 MMcf/D, flared. According to the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, 80% of the flared gas came from the wells that connected to pipelines, but where capacity was insufficient to capture all of the production. The other 20% was from the wells that were not connected to a pipeline. North Dakota’s Industrial Commission has established a target to limit natural gas flaring to 10% by 2020. The fundamental problem is not the technical aspect of natural gas production, but determining a way to market natural gas that is practical, economically feasible, and efficient. One option for marketability would be to convert natural gas into hydrocarbon liquid through a GTL processing plant.

Foreign Policy Followed by the U.S. in The European Energy Market: Shale Gas Revolution and LNG Thrust Against The Russian Dominance

Bu makale, Avrupa gaz pazarının kapasitesini ve Rusya'nın ana gaz tedarikçisi olduğunu göz önünde bulundurmak suretiyle, Avrupa gaz pazarının halen gelişme sürecinde olan Kuzey Amerika gazı için henüz yararlanılmamış bir kaynak olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışma, ABD ve Rusya’nın enerji sektörü özelinde ilişkilerine jeopolitik çerçevede geniş ve kapsamlı genel bir bakış sunmakta, diğer yandan hem ABD hem de Rusya’nın enerji politikası için Avrupa enerji piyasasının önemini vurgulamaktadır. Makalede, güvenlikleştirme teorisi ve enerji güvenliği kavramları çerçevesinde ABD’nin dış politikasının analiz edilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Çalışmada yöntem olarak ABD’nin bölgeye ilişkin enerji politikaları bölgeselcilik kavramı çerçevesinde analiz edilmiştir. Çalışmanın sonucu, ABD’nin Avrupa doğal gaz piyasalarındaki çıkarının, yalnızca Avrupa’nın Rus doğal gazına olan bağımlılığını azaltma konusunda ‘yardım etmenin’ ötesinde olduğunu, ABD’nin nihai dış politika hedefinin Avrupa’nın önde gelen bir doğal gaz tedarikçisi olarak tebarüz etmek olduğunu öngörmektedir.

Electrochemistry Enhanced Activation of Ethane for Co-Production of Ethylene and Hydrogen with Low-Thermal-Budget and Low-CO2-Emission

The shale gas revolution and rapidly increasing demand for hydrogen (for upgrading lower-quality oils and automotive industry), have spurred the development of more energy-efficient and cost-effective approaches to convert natural gas/natural gas liquids into high value-added fuels and chemicals. Ethylene, one of the largest building blocks in petrochemical industry, is mainly manufactured from high temperature steam cracking of ethane or naphtha. This method is energy intensive and represents the single most energy consuming process in the chemical industry. To fully exploit the potential of ethane as feedstock, we demonstrated electrochemistry enhanced co-production of ethylene and hydrogen through non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane at temperatures below 600oC with close to theoretical ethane conversion rate and high ethylene yield. Significant reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emission, compared to the commercial ethane steam cracking process was achieved. The remarkable performance is enabled by advanced fabrication of solid oxide proton conducting electrochemical membrane reactors incorporated with highly selective electrocatalysts as well as comprehensive operation optimization.

Heterogeneous risk spillovers from crude oil to regional natural gas markets: the role of the shale gas revolution

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the heterogeneous risk spillovers from crude oil to regional natural gas markets against the background of the North American shale gas revolution. The market risks are measured by the upside and downside VaR. We first confirm the existence of risk spillovers between oil and gas markets by using Granger causality in risk. Then, we employ the MVMQ-CAViaR model to reveal the tail-dependence patterns and propose the performance test to highlight the accuracy of the model for the construction of VaR. Furthermore, we construct quantile impulse-response functions and identify asymmetric features in the magnitude, duration, and direction of response by gas markets to extreme negative and positive oil price shocks. Our results show that the revolution actually affects the risk spillovers from oil to gas markets and exhibits the time-varying property. And the heterogeneous risk-transmission mechanisms depend on the regional characteristics and specific market scenarios. Finally, policy implications are discussed.

The volatility linkage between energy and agricultural futures markets with external shocks

This paper investigates the volatility linkage between energy and agricultural futures returns and how this linkage responds to external macroeconomic shocks. A framework combining the VARMA-BEKK-GARCH model and the Permanent-Transitory decomposition technology is employed to detect the volatility transmission, to decompose the volatility linkage into permanent and transitory components, and to examine the underlying determinants of the transitory volatility linkage. We have the following findings. A bidirectional volatility linkage between energy and agricultural futures returns exists and becomes more pronounced in recent years. The bidirectional linkage results from the co-movement effect induced by external shocks rather than from the substitution effect induced by the biofuel industry, and is not weakened by the shale gas revolution. Serving as proxies for external shocks from the world economy, trade, and financial markets, the CRB, BDI, and USDX indices provide strong explanatory power for the transitory volatility linkage, and the futures of these indices can be used to effectively and inexpensively hedge against the risks of the portfolios involving energy and agricultural futures.

Impact of Surface Composition of SrTiO3 Catalysts for Oxidative Coupling of Methane

AbstractOxidative coupling of methane (OCM) to C2 hydrocarbons (C2H6 and C2H4) have regained much attention due to the shale gas revolution. Perovskite catalysts have shown promising activity and selectivity to C2 hydrocarbons. Here, we investigate the effect of surface reconstruction (leading to different surface compositions) of perovskites on the OCM by using SrTiO3(STO) as a model catalyst. Different surface densities of Sr (25–96 %) were attained via various treatments of STO. Low energy ion scattering (LEIS) and UV‐Raman results are in good agreement on the surface and subsurface composition of the reconstructed STO. From H2‐TPR, the same H2 consumption of STO samples allows relating their catalytic performances with surface acid‐base properties (quantified by NH3‐/CO2‐TPD). At 600–800 °C, the surface Sr enrichment was found to enhance CH4 conversion, C2 selectivity and the ratio C2H4/C2H6 up to Sr/(Sr+Ti) of 0.66 and then levels off. Furthermore, the relative concentration of basic sites, base/(base+acid), is found as a better descriptor for STO catalytic performances. This work shows the clear correlation between surface reconstruction, relative basicity/acidity and OCM catalytic performance over perovskite catalysts. The trends here are similar to those for CH4 combustion over the reconstructed STO in our recent work. Overall, we suggest that tuning surface reconstruction/composition of perovskites can be an effective approach to control CH4 activation and conversions.

Oil and Gas in Poland: future prospecting and critical points

Shale gas revolution in Poland is over. But several years of shale gas investigations gave a methodic for prospecting and exploitation of various types of unconventional reservoirs. Tight gas reservoir rocks show 10 to 100 times greater permeability than shale reservoir rocks. It is the base to profitable exploitation these reservoirs. The paper relieved and ranked the polish sedimentary basins in context of possibilities of discovery unconventional and low permeable conventional reservoirs. The Miocene sediments of The Carpathian Foredeep, the polish part of the Rotliegend basin, the Carpathians and the Upper Silesian Coal Basin were taken into considerations. Advantages and critical points was discussed.

Methane dehydroaromatization over molybdenum supported on sulfated zirconia catalysts

The shale gas revolution has strongly impacted the world by providing a significant incentive for research in natural gas conversion. Natural gas is becoming an important feedstock for the production of valuable chemicals. Dehydroaromatization (DHA) is an important non-oxidative conversion route for methane conversion, and Mo doped on the H-ZSM-5 or H-MCM-22 have been well-studied for this reaction. In these catalysts, Mo sites activate CH4 to form dimeric species that are subsequently oligomerized on the strong Brønsted acid sites. In the present study, Mo is doped on solid sulfated zirconia (SZ) to create a catalyst similar to Mo/H-ZSM-5, but with a different solid acid. Despite the logic of using SZ as the acid, we are aware of no systematic study of Mo/SZ catalysts for this reaction. These catalysts were characterized using Raman, XPS, DRIFTS, SEM-EDS, HRTEM, XRD, XANES and other temperature programmed techniques. Raman spectra confirmed the formation of Mo = O and OMoO bonds on the surface of SZ support. DRIFTS confirmed that there was little difference in acid sites when Mo was doped on SZ, except at higher Mo loadings. XPS, XANES, and HRTEM analysis showed that MoO3 is converted to MoOxCy and is further converted to Mo2C as the reaction progresses. Further, these catalysts were evaluated for methane DHA reaction. All of these catalysts showed methane conversions of 5–20 % at temperatures of 600–700 °C. In each case, the catalysts deactivated steadily, attributable to strong coking on the surface, as confirmed with TPO. A comparison with literature showed that Mo/SZ has comparable activity to Mo/H-ZSM-5 at around 650 °C–675 °C temperature range. Further, Mo/SZ was more selective towards heavier aromatics such as naphthalene and coke as compared to Mo/H-ZSM-5 at 700 °C, which is more selective towards benzene.

Modeling the Geopolitics of Natural Gas: LNG Exports From the US to Eastern Europe

In the course of the crisis in the Ukraine, most leading politicians in Eastern European countries, such as Poland, the Baltic States and Ukraine itself, identified the high dependency on natural gas imports from Russia as a threat to energy security. Hopes of independence through extraction of domestic shale gas resources, which evolved after the US shale gas revolution and the substantial resource estimations for Polish shale gas (published by the EIA in 2011 and updated 2013), are more topical than ever. However, there are several factors, which dim the hope for repetition of the US “shale gas revolution” in Eastern Europe. First, international companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil or Chevron withdrew from Poland and Ukraine due to poor exploration results. Additionally, because of environmental legislation and population density, the obstacles for commercial shale gas production within Europe, compared to the US, are very high. In this paper, the Global Gas Model (GGM) (Egging, 2013) is used to simulate future patterns of the Eastern European gas supply. Shale gas scenarios show that Poland and the Baltic States would lower their dependency with an annual production of 8 bcm (Poland) and 2 bcm (Baltic States) because of their relatively low natural gas consumption. This means, conversely, that a failing production of shale gas would lead to ongoing dependence on natural gas imports. In Ukraine, however, a potential shale gas production of 5 bcm/a does not have major consequences with respect to an annual consumption of up to 60 bcm. As for LNG scenarios, US LNG exports do barely reach the Eastern European gas market in the Base Case scenario. Only in the projected period between 2035 and 2040 Poland receives 4.9 bcm of US LNG. However, the Polish natural gas market is sensitive to provided subsidies. A 30% subsidy on transportation increases the total amount of exported LNG to Poland up to 8 bcm. In contrast, the Ukrainian and Baltic natural gas market, however, barely react to subsidies from the US. A minimum of 60% is needed to export US natural gas under economically rational conditions to both regions. Modeling results show that the increasing natural gas demand in Ukraine, the Baltic States and Poland is in need of either domestic shale gas production or an increase of pipeline or LNG imports.

A wavelet analysis of the relationship between oil and natural gas prices

In this paper, we aim to explore the relationship between natural gas and crude oil prices for the U.S. economy over the time period 1997 and 2017 in both the unconditional and conditional framework by conditioning the relationship on natural gas production. The time period covers the recent shale gas supply boom. Our results indicate that during the shale gas revolution period of 2007–2013, oil and natural gas prices were procyclical and oil prices were leading natural gas prices. Once we control for the natural gas production we find that significant or high wavelet coherency is observed during 2000–2015 for 3–4 years scale. These results have implications for cross-market policy effects.

How do fossil energy prices affect the stock prices of new energy companies? Evidence from Divisia energy price index in China's market

With the shale gas revolution and the maturity of new energy technologies, the global oil-based energy pattern began to be remodeled worldwide. From the perspective of China, coal has played a dominant leading role in the energy structure. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly irrational to replace fossil fuels with oil. This paper considers the impact of fluctuations of three fossil energy (oil, coal and natural gas) prices on new energy companies stock prices to meet the needs of policy makers and investors in this rapidly developing field. Due to the incomplete substitution among fossil fuels, this paper uses the Divisia price synthesis method to synthesize these three prices into a composite price index. Furthermore, we use a variable vector autoregressive model to explore dynamic relationships among stock prices of new energy companies and technology companies, fossil energy prices and carbon futures prices. The results reveal that previous stock prices of new energy companies had the most significant impact on the current level. However, fossil energy prices account for only a small part of stock price fluctuations of new energy companies.

Huge growth in petrochemical production predicted

The petrochemical industry is set for explosive growth worldwide, driven by demand for plastics in developing nations, a new report by the International Energy Agency says. Already humming along to supply industrial and consumer products, petrochemical manufacturing is expected to outpace transportation fuels as the main user of hydrocarbon-based raw materials by 2050, primarily to meet demand of developing countries. In the U.S., after decades of chemical industry stagnation, companies have taken advantage of new demand and the shale gas revolution to dramatically increase production. The U.S. is now home to around 40% of the global ethane-based petrochemical production capacity, although the Middle East remains the lowest cost center for many key petrochemicals. The growth in demand and production of petrochemical-derived products has a downside, however, in the form of climate, air quality, and water pollution problems. To address those problems, the report urges greater recycling of plastic products and

Shale tales: Politics of knowledge and promises in Europe’s shale gas discourses

Straddling the late 2000s and the early 2010s, and following the dawn of the ‘shale gas revolution’ in North America, European governments have considered the possibility to repeat such an endeavor. However, the great disparity of energy mixes and histories across the continent has caused diverse responses to these plans. In this paper, we focus on three countries whose governments made markedly different choices with respect to the development of shale gas and to the application of its related extractive technology, hydraulic fracturing: France, Germany, and Poland. We analyze the discursive strategies employed by advocates of this resource/technology to turn them into a legitimate and desirable option for national energy supply. For our investigation, we mobilize a combination of theoretical frameworks and concepts originating from discourse analysis (the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse), and science & technology studies (the regime of technoscientific promises). In doing so, we focus on the press and the grey literature. Our tripartite analysis reveals that the reception of shale gas was significantly shaped by the ways in which proponents built horizons of expectations, and inflected them by adapting them to different national contexts: that was ultimately a matter of discursively structured politics of knowledge.

Enhancing electric reliability with storage-field generators

The U.S. natural gas industry has experienced two significant changes recently. First, consumption has increased since 1995, as electric utilities substitute gas for coal. Since electricity use is summer peaking, this new consumption smooths demand over the year. Second, the shale gas revolution has increased production and storage since 2005. This decreased prices, encouraging the coal-to-gas substitution. Frictions between the gas and electricity industries have, however, decreased electric reliability. Just as locating generators at coal mines decreases the cost of transporting coal, locating gas generators at storage sites increases reliability by decreasing these frictions. But because the increased reliability is external, and thus ignored by generators and infrastructure providers, FERC must provide incentives to coordinate investment in generation and storage to realize these gains.

The Shale Oil and Gas Revolution

The Shale Oil and Gas Revolution

The shale gas revolution in China—problems and countermeasures

Shale gas development throughout the world has resulted in a revolution in the field of global energy and has also become an important topic in China in recent years. While organic-rich shale is widely distributed in China and the initial commercialization of shale gas has been achieved, the research, exploration, and development of shale gas remain at an early stage. Problems exist with crucial technologies, innovation, institutional mechanisms, environmental protection, and other aspects of the industry. The shale gas exploration and development industry in China can learn from the experiences of other countries and strengthen its position in the market, with the support of new government policy. Given its unique geological conditions, China should speed up the introduction of technical innovation and establish its unique systems and methods for shale gas exploration and development.

From hydrocarbon processing to hydrocarbon synthesis: Advances in catalytic technology

Hydrocarbon is a vital kind of chemical compounds to form liquid fuels and polymer monomers. It is the backbone of the national economy and is closely related to people’s lives. Hydrocarbon processing refers to the production of hydrocarbon with different structures through the separation or chemical conversion of petroleum resources, such as refined petroleum products, which is a top-down way. Hydrocarbon processing, including series of chemical conversion reactions such as carbon-carbon bond cleavage, covers the major processes of petroleum refining and petrochemicals, and is the main production route for hydrocarbon products. Hydrocarbon synthesis uses non-petroleum-based resources such as coal, natural gas, and biomass as carbon source, through chemical conversion such as carbon-carbon bond coupling and carbon chain growth. The hydrocarbon synthesis is a route that assemblies small molecules to target hydrocarbon products by bottom-up way. It covers the main processes of the new coal chemical industry and natural gas chemical industry, and is also an important component of the future biomass conversion and renewable energy industry. Hydrocarbon synthesis is an important supplement to current and future production of hydrocarbon. But, the shortage of oil resources is inevitable. The shale gas revolution has also brought new options to the global en-ergy economy. Facing the challenges of resource and environmental, traditional hydrocarbon production technology has been unable to meet the needs of economic development. The sustainable development of the energy and chemical industry is urgent, and the direction is clear. (1) To increase the efficiency of the use of petroleum resources to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. (2) The development of new hydrocarbon synthesis methods based on non-oil resources such as C1 platform reactions. Many new catalytic reaction processes and routes are involved in hydrocarbon processing and hydrocarbon synthe-sis. The catalytic conversion of hydrocarbons constitutes a complex reaction network, thus solving the C–C, C–H bond activation, shape-selectivity conversion, C–C bond coupling and chain growth control is an important problem in cata-lytic research. In particular, in order to realize the industrialization of catalytic technologies such as hydrocarbon pro-cessing and hydrocarbon synthesis, it is necessary to build a bridge from the laboratory (theory) to the industry (engi-neering). The key scientific issues that need to be solved can be summarized as: synergy between important elements such as “systematic vs. elementary”, and “apparent vs. intrinsic”.

VIABILIDAD DE EXPLOTAR GAS SHALE EN ALGUNOS MUNICIPIOS DEL ESTADO DE TAMAULIPAS

Natural gas has become one of the main fuels used worldwide. The shale gas revolution has already occurred in the United States, it is now convenient to use the lessons to promote the Mexican energy self-sufficiencyand economic growth. The research project focuses on studying the challenges to exploit such hydrocarbon by oil companies in one part of the regions with high potential for shale gas such as Tampico-Misantlaearly defined in Round One bidding 4. Based on the deductive analysis of the main factors surrounding this activity, we conclude that it is necessary to channel investment resources to create the infrastructurefor development and support this activity, as well as to consider the social problems faced, especially in the security area.