FLARE GAS RECOVERY: GHG EMISSION REDUCTION AND MONETIZING WASTE

摘要

VICO Indonesia is an oil and gas producer operating since 1968 in the Mahakam Delta, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Its current production is 500 MMscfd of gas and 15,000 bpd of oil. Like other oil and gas producers, some gas is normally burnt at the flare. The gas is a by-product of the crude oil stabilization unit and from the oily water degassing drum. This gas is known as flash gas. The other source of flare gas is coming from well reactivation activity or well blowdown activity.Considering the company target to reduce GHG (Green House Gas) emission and also increase gas for production, two projects were proposed to recover flare gas. One project involved utilization of VRU Compressors (Vapor Recovery Unit) to recover flash gas and the other project utilized a mobile Blowdown Compressor Unit (BDC). The mobile BDC Unit can be moved from one well to another based on well blowdown requirement.In middle November 2007, the VRU Compressors were successfully installed and commissioned. Four VRU compressors are in operation now to recover flash gas. They are located at Badak, Nilam, Semberah and Mutiara. These four VRU compressors are presently compressing about 1.1 MMscf of flare gas everyday. It is reducing 70 tonnes of CO2 emissions everyday or 2,100 tonnes of CO2 emissions per month.The BDC Unit was commissioned in February 2006 for Badak operations. It diverts gas and condensate from the flare during blowdown activity. During 2006, it operated successfully in 89 well blowdown operatons with cumulative 265 compressor running hours. Approximately 4,000 Mscf of gas was recovered; equivalent to reducing 260 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The flare gas recovery projects have successfully reduced VICO's GHG Emissions and turned flare gas into gas production.