Applications for distributed energy resources in oil and gas production: Methods for reducing flare gas emissions and increasing generation availability

摘要

Distributed Energy Resources (DER) represents a new frontier in the energy industry. In the past, the ability to generate power was primarily restricted to electric utilities. Electric restructuring, however, creates new opportunities for both large and small power suppliers. Recent estimates by the U.S. Energy Information Agency have found that in 1998 nearly 300 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas was vented or flared in the lower 48 states. In Texas alone, approximately 41 Bcf was flared, which is enough natural gas to power a 470 MW electric generator. Unfortunately, flared, wasted, or stranded gas exists at many small oil and gas leases throughout the U.S., particularly at small independent producing sites. Growing public interest in power system reliability, particularly generation availability, creates a unique opportunity for DER applications, like those capturing wasted energy opportunities, to create valuable electricity. Unfortunately, most of these small scale, cost effective applications are being overlooked because of interest in larger, central station merchant facilities. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the opportunities and barriers for placing DER in oil and gas field applications. We highlight the point that while there are numerous applications, institutional and regulatory barriers prevent many of these applications from being realized.