USE OF CATALYTIC DE-RICHMENT TO MAXIMISE SHALE GAS PRODUCTION

摘要

The introduction of directional drilling coupled with hydraulic fracturing has openedup for exploitation hitherto ignored reserves of natural gas. The gas now beingrecovered is referred to as originating from shale, tight sands and coal. The nature ofthe formation holding the gas means that the gas composition is closer to associatedgas than is usually the case for natural gas wells. Thus the gas may contain significantlevels of C2+ hydrocarbons. This means that the gas cannot always be supplieddirectly in to transmission pipelines.Heavy hydrocarbons can be recovered and shipped separately but high levels ofethane may be a problem. Ethane is a valuable feedstock but not always easy totransport from the remote locations now being drilled. Catalytic de-richment (CDRTM)provides a convenient method of converting inconvenient heavy hydrocarbons intomethane. This avoids the need for flaring and allows increased production of pipelinegas.