How Are the Worlds

Major Oil Operators

Minimizing

Gas Flaring?
The worlds major oil operators are investing
billions of dollars to drastically reduce the
flaring and venting of associated gas Oil
and Gas IQ explores how Saudi Aramco, Dana
Petroleum and ENI are leading this change.

Over 140 billion cubic metres of natural gas is lost every year through flaring and venting, which is the equivalent of one
third of the total gas consumed annually by the European Union. Whilst occasional flaring and venting is necessary for
safety reasons, continual flaring and venting is preventable, wasteful and damaging to the environment. With global gas
usage on the rise and pressures on the petroleum industry to mitigate its environmental footprint, the worlds major oil
operators are now investing billions of dollars to capture, utilize and monetize their associated gas.
This change is already being seen in Asia Pacific as many of the major operators implement rigorous new
environmental regulations:

PETRONAS plans to implement a zero flaring policy for all new facilities
Chevron IndoAsia Business Unit is investing in solutions to eliminate the practice of continuous
venting by 2016
PTTEP Thailand aims to reduce its emission of greenhouse gases by 20% by 2020

With these oil operators and more looking at the latest technology available to help them recover and monetize their
associated gas, Oil and Gas IQ explores how Saudi Aramco, Dana Petroleum and ENI are leading this change.

Saudi Aramco
Today, Saudi Arabia uses more gas per capita than the UK,
Germany and Japan combined, with this amount expected
to rise by 5% each year over the next two decades. Due
to this significant demand, Saudi Aramco has for a longtime recognized the importance of capturing and utilizing
associated gas to support Saudi Arabias economy.
Back in the 1970s, Saudi Aramco established a
comprehensive integrated system to capture and distribute
natural gas known as the Master Gas System (MGS).
Now thanks to continual investment, the MGS has the
capacity to capture an enormous 170 milion cmd of
unprocessed gas. Oil and Gas IQ spoke to Prasad Pantula,
Engineering Specialist with Saudi Aramco to find out how
they have managed to achieve such remarkable results.
A common way to reduce the environmental impact of
gas flaring is to use smokeless flares. However smokeless
flares neither conserve valuable hydrocarbons, nor
eliminate the emissions of Co2 and pollutants such as SO2
and NOx. Saudi Aramco has instead implemented a zero
discharge process at the well head, whereby hydrogen
sulfide is chemically neutralized and the well fluids are
segregated using multi-phase separator before being
shipped. This process results in zero flaring.
Currently, the MGS consists of 55 Gas Oil Separation Plants,
three gas processing plants, two gas fractionation plants
and the East-West Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Pipeline that
feeds NGL cross-country. Pantula explained that, for each
well we now collect on average 600 barrels of crude oil
and 120 thousand cubic feet of gas, while waste solids are
reduced to a few kilograms.
Pantula added that technology alone is not enough to
properly adapt the extraction process to harness flare gas.
In order to develop a flare reduction scheme it is essential

www.gasflaringasia.com

Iraq

Turaif

Jordan

Iran
al-jawf

Kuwait

Tabuk
Duba

Jubail Juaymah
Ras Tanura

Abqaiq
Qassim

Dhahran
Khurais
Riyadh

Yanbu
Rabigh

Bahrain
Qatar

Shedgum

Haradh

Saudi Arabia

Arabian
Gulf

UAE
Nuayyim

Jiddah

Shaybah

Oman

al-Sulayyil

Red Sea
Abha
Jazan

Najran

Yemen

to rally corporate management behind the idea. Such a

scheme requires not just technology but also effective
internal support, monitoring and management. Other
crucial factors include the implementation of an effective
flare loss monitoring and reporting system at facilities, as
well as the need to identify short and long term mitigation
measures to reduce facility flaring
The MGS is set to be further expanded after the
commissioning of Wasit gas plant which is currently under
construction. The Wasit gas plant will have the capacity to
process more than 2.5 billion standard cubic feet of gas
per day making it the largest gas plant in the Kingdom.

East Zeit Petroleum JV with Dana Petroleum

In the Gulf of Suez, oil extraction is driving growth and
development in the region. East Zeit Petroleum, a joint
venture between EGPC and Dana Petroleum, currently
operates an unmanned platform and an offshore oil
process flow station in the gulf. Impressively, East Zeit
Petroleum has successfully managed to cut its gas flaring
despite challenges including fluctuating power supplies,
machinery not being set up to support the capture of flare
gas and the issues of remote working. These challenges
made traditional gas capture techniques such as liquid
ring or screw compression capture difficult and instead
prompted the use of alternative technology.
According to Hamdy Faroun Senior Process Engineer with
East Zeit, We have managed to capture 98% of
associated gas, with no need for operators, maintenance
or spare parts by utilizing a gas ejector as part of a
wider package. From two unmanned platforms, oil and
gas is extracted and piped to an existing offshore oil flow
station. Then at the station gas is separated from oil using
the new gas ejector technology. The ejectors are extremely
reliable, easy to install and simple to operate Faroun
explains. Their performance is easily modified to suit any
condition and their cost is significantly less than mechanical
pumps or compressors. Faroun went on to state that

West Abu Gharadig

Qarun

EGYPT
East Beni Suef
North Zeit Bay
East Zeit

investment in this technology pays off since, the gas

ejectors paid for themselves within two months and
produced substantial financial rewards in the long run.
Gas ejectors as flare gas recovery units present new
opportunities for oil operators to reduce the wastage of
precious natural resources, reduce the release of Co2
emissions and positively contribute to the fuel
requirement of the country by providing an additional
source of fuel (gas) and preserving diesel fuel said Faroun.

Eni
Eni is one of fifteen oil operators participating in the
Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership, the World Banks
public-private partnership initiative to reduce emissions
from gas flaring globally. Thanks to investments of over a
billion and half dollars, Eni has set the goal of zeroing the
quantity of gas flared by 2017. These investments are already
showing results as between 2010 - 12 there was a reduction
of approximately 28% in the volume flared gas. This is an
impressive 51% reduction in flared gas from 2007 levels
thanks to the completion of various flaring down projects.
The volume of gas sent to flaring has in fact showed
consistent reductions in some countries such as The
Democratic Republic of the Congo, (down 21%) where
the flaring down project MBoundi Gas Development is
underway. This has also be seen in Nigeria, (down 11%)
where the Ogbainbiri Flow Station Upgrading and Idu
Phase 2 Works Completion & Flaring Down projects are
on-going.
At the MBoundi field in particular, the largest slice of Enis
production in Nigeria, producing about 37,000 barrels
a day, was previously dotted with gas flares. But now
instead of being wasted, much of that gas is piped to a
350 megawatt gas-to-power project that feeds two power
plants. This initiative has successfully reduced greenhouse
gas emissions and increased access to electricity for
approximately 300,000 people.

www.gasflaringasia.com

Tunisia

Algeria
Libya
Mali
Nigeria
Ghana
Gabon
Congo, Republic of

Egypt

Angola
Mozambique

In addition to participating in the Global Gas Flaring

Reduction partnership, Eni has set a number of its own
targets relating to reduction of gas flaring in its operations
globally. By the end of 2014, the company looks to recover
95% of the gas flared in association with oil production in
Nigeria. Then by 2015, Eni has committed to reducing 80%
in the volume of gas flared compared with the volume
burnt in 2007, with an aim to recover more than 5 million
tons of gas per year from associated gas. In effort to
achieve this, further projects to reduce flaring are already
underway in Algeria and Libya.

But these are not the only examples of oil operators successfully reducing their flaring and venting:

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan successfully cut flaring by nearly half over just two years
Mexico cut flaring by two-thirds in two years
Kuwait is flaring only one percent of gas associated with its oil production operations
Gulf, Qatar Petroleum and Maersk have worked to capture 180 million cubic feet of gas
InperthedayPersian
for electricity
These demonstrate that the minimization, utilization and monetization of associated gas is achievable for both onshore
and offshore oil production. The next wave of projects is expected in the Asia Pacific region and with the combination
of proven technologies, effective planning, monitoring and corporate support, a new phase in associated gas capture
looks to transform the petroleum industry.

Introducing Asias only

flaring and venting event

If you are interested in ways to reduce

flaring and venting, or if you provide
solutions in these areas, come and meet
PETRONAS, ConocoPhillips, Pertamina and
more at Gas Flaring and Venting Asia,
17 18 June 2014, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Email enquiry@iqpc.com.sg or visit
www.GasFlaringAsia.com to find out more.

This event comes at a critical time when

environmental regulations are tightening in
Southeast Asia and operators are looking for new
cost-effective solutions to reduce their emissions.

Supporting Partner

Bjorn Hamso,
Program Manager,
The Global Gas
Flaring Reduction
Partnership,
Conference Chairman,
Gas Flaring and
Venting Asia

Gas Flaring and Venting Asia is Supported by the GGFR The Global Gas Flaring
Reduction (GGFR) public-private partnership facilitates the collaboration between oil
producing nations, state-owned oil companies, and major oil companies. This World
Bank-led initiative fosters balanced and pragmatic approaches to help reducing gas
flaring to levels as low as technically and economically possible. The GGFR is endorsing
the Gas Flaring and Venting Asia 2014 conference and is providing guidance on
the agenda topics and on potential speakers. The objective of the event is to foster
a fruitful dialogue amongst the relevant stakeholders on regulatory and technical
aspects, as well as sharing of best practices.
To find out how the GGFR is supporting Gas Flaring and Venting Asia and how you can
get involved visit www.GasFlaringAsia.com

www.gasflaringasia.com