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  • Oil markets: rising volatility?

    Oil markets: rising volatility?

    Oil markets endure 4 major volatility events per year, with a magnitude of +/- 320kbpd, on average. Their net impact detracts -100kbpd. OPEC and shale have historically buffered out the volatility, so annual oil output is 70% less volatile than renewables’ output. This 10-page note explores the numbers and the changes that lie ahead?

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  • Energy market volatility: climate change?

    Energy market volatility: climate change?

    This 14-page note predicts a staggering increase in global energy market volatility, which doubles by 2050, while extreme events that sway energy balances by +/- 2% will become 250x more frequent. A key reason is that the annual output from wind, solar and hydro all vary by +/- 3-5% each year, while wind and solar…

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  • US gas transmission: by company and by pipeline?

    US gas transmission: by company and by pipeline?

    This data-file aggregates granular data into US gas transmission, by company and by pipeline, for 40 major US gas pipelines which transport 45TCF of gas per annum across 185,000 miles; and for 3,200 compressors at 640 related compressor stations.

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  • Pump costs: energy economics of electric pumps?

    Pump costs: energy economics of electric pumps?

    Total pump costs can be ballparked at $600/kW/year of power, of which 70% is electricity, 20% operations and maintenance, 10% capex/capital costs. But the numbers vary. Hence this data-file breaks down the capex costs of pumps, other pump costs, pump energy consumption and the efficiency of pumps from first principles.

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  • Storage tank costs: storing oil, energy, water and chemicals?

    Storage tank costs: storing oil, energy, water and chemicals?

    Storage tank costs are tabulated in this data-file, averaging $100-300/m3 for storage systems of 10-10,000 m3 capacity. Costs are 2-10x higher for corrosive chemicals, cryogenic storage, or very large/small storage facilities. Some rules of thumb are outlined below with underlying data available in the Excel.

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  • Gas dehydration: costs and economics?

    Gas dehydration: costs and economics?

    Gas dehydration costs might run to $0.02/mcf, with an energy penalty of 0.03%, to remove around 90% of the water from a wellhead gas stream using a TEG absorption unit, and satisfy downstream requirements for 4-7lb/mmcf maximum water content. This data-file captures the economics of gas dehydration, to earn a 10% IRR off $25,000/mmcfd capex.

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  • Gas fractionation: NGL economics?

    Gas fractionation: NGL economics?

    Gas fractionation separates out methane from NGLs such as ethane, propane and butane. A full separation uses up almost 1% of the input gas energy and 4% of the NGL energy. The costs of gas fractionation require a gas processing spread of $0.7/mcf for a 10% IRR off $2/mcf input gas, or in turn, an…

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  • Energy needed to produce steam: enthalpy and entropy data?

    Energy needed to produce steam: enthalpy and entropy data?

    This data-file quantifies the energy needed to produce steam, for industrial heat, chemicals, CCS plants and hydrogen reforming? As rules of thumb, low pressure saturated steam at 100◦C requires 2.6 GJ/ton (720kWh/ton), medium pressure dry steam at 6-bar and 300◦C requires 3 GJ/ton (830kWh/ton) and super-critical steam at 250-bar and 600◦C requires 4 GJ/ton (1,150kWh/ton).

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  • Flaring reduction: fire extinguishers?

    Flaring reduction: fire extinguishers?

    Controversies over oil industry flaring are re-accelerating, especially due to the methane slip from flares, now feared as high as 8% globally. The skew entails that more CO2e could be emitted in producing low quality barrels (Scope 1) than in consuming high quality barrels (Scope 3). Environmental impacts are preventable. This 10-page note explores how,…

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  • Liquefied CO2 carriers: CO2 shipping costs?

    Liquefied CO2 carriers: CO2 shipping costs?

    This model captures the economics of a CO2 carrier, i.e., a large marine vessel, carrying liquefied CO2, at -50ºC temperature and 6-10 bar pressure, for CCS. A good rule of thumb is seaborne CO2 shipping costs are $8/ton/1,000-miles. Shipping rates of $100k/day yield a 10% IRR on a c$150M tanker.

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