A floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel to produce a dry-gas reservoir is technically feasible. A potential means of production would be a pure gas FPSO (GFPSO) a generic GFPSO would in essence be a floating gas production and conditioning facility. The principal export products would be pipeline-quality gas, an LPG liquid, and a C5+ condensate liquid.
A floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel to produce a dry-gas reservoir is technically feasible. A potential means of production would be a pure gas FPSO (GFPSO) a generic GFPSO would in essence be a floating gas production and conditioning facility. The principal export products would be pipeline-quality gas, an LPG liquid, and a C5+ condensate liquid.
A floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel to produce a dry-gas reservoir is technically feasible. A potential means of production would be a pure gas FPSO (GFPSO) a generic GFPSO would in essence be a floating gas production and conditioning facility. The principal export products would be pipeline-quality gas, an LPG liquid, and a C5+ condensate liquid.
Economic analysis of use of a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel to produce a dry-gas reservoir indicates that such use is technically feasible. Moreover, this analysis indicates that, of three transportation optionspipeline, LNG, and CNGshipping by CNG exhibits the best return on investment under a simplified payback analysis. FPSO's acceptance The FFPSO vessel has become an accepted solution for oil production in deepwater or remote offshore areas. Today's FPSO applications primarily deal with oil production, while associated gas is reinjected where there is no gas-pipeline infrastructure available. A few of these vessels process associated gas to recover NGL but still reinject the residue gas. Continued technological developments in gas-utilization processes, expanding discovery of reserves in remote and deepwater locations offshore, regulatory requirements, and market pressures are combining to make recovery of associated gas in remote locations both technically and commercially possible. The result will inevitably be a combination of traditional oil-production facilities and gas-utilization facilities on a single hull. Some producers already consider this option technically feasible. But what about remote dry-gas discoveries? Such gas fields, no matter their sizes, are often not being produced. A potential means of production would be a pure gas FPSO (GFPSO). A generic GFPSO would in essence be a floating gas production and conditioning facility. Being a movable and reusable asset, this concept could unlock many gas reserves that might otherwise remain stranded under conventional project-development scenarios. The GFPSO's principal export products would be pipeline-quality gas, an LPG liquid, and a C5+ condensate liquid. While conventional shuttle tankers can transport the two liquid products, transportation of the residue gas remains the primary economic challenge. Offshore gas can be transported by one of four generic methods: 1. Gas transmission to shore in gaseous phase by pipeline. 2. Volume reduction through either liquefaction or compression (LNG, CNG) followed by marine transportation. 3. Conversion to other products by changing the "methane molecule" (methanol, synthetic crude: gas-to-liquids, or GTL), followed by marine transportation. 4. Conversion to another form of energy such as electric power and transmission by a subsea cable to shore (gas-to-watts, or GTW). Obviously, the simpler the required facilities, the lower the probable capital cost. On this basis, the first two generic methods listed offer the most likely transportation options for the gas product from a GFPSO. This article examines the relative configuration and economics of a GFPSO using pipeline, CNG, or LNG as the gas-product transportation method. Options This article looks at facilities that process 400 MMscfd of produced gas. This volume is selected because, as will be seen later, the weight of topsides facilities necessary to produce this rate "fits" on commonly available hull sizes. The facility is assumed to be in deepwater, nominally 800-1,000 m. The produced gas to the facility is assumed to be relatively rich gas (see accompanying box for composition).
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Table 1 shows overall material balances for 400 MMscfd of produced gas. The pipeline-quality gas product will have an approximate gas heating value (GHV) of 1,058 btu/std. cu ft for all three transportation options. The product rates are used to calculate revenues and costs from each transportation option. Shrinkage for liquid recovery and fuel use reduces the available export-gas volume. LNG suffers additional shrinkage due to a lower overall thermodynamic efficiency and the need for refrigerants. Fig. 1 presents the GFPSO processing scheme for the pipeline and CNG options. Production facilities will include well-fluid cooling followed by hydrocarbon liquids, water, and gas separation. Gas conditioning will include dehydration and NGL recovery followed by compression. The basic export products are pipeline quality gas, LPG mix, and stabilized condensate. The NGL liquid products are exported via shuttle tankers and their storage will be provided on the GFPSO. Pipeline Pipeline export is usually the simplest transportation option for gas. Pipeline construction is expensive, however, becoming more expensive with water depth and of course distance from shore. Deepwater pipelines become limited in size as lay stresses in deep water reduce the pipe size that can be installed by existing lay barges. In some areas, bottom profiles at deepwater locations also reduce applicability of a pipeline solution. This article makes the assumptions for the pipeline option shown in the accompanying box. The export gas enters the pipeline directly from the GFPSO compression train at about 3,000 psig and 110 F. Some modification to the GFPSO flare and relief system may be needed if relief of the pipeline volume is to be considered during shutdown scenarios. A GFPSO that transports residue gas by pipeline requires no equipment or technologies not currently in use on oil production FPSOs. Compression CNG as a gas transportation option has been receiving much industry attention with at least four firms offering schemes. All of these use specially equipped CNG ships to shuttle gas under high pressure from the production location to an onshore receiving infrastructure that could be a plant or pipeline. No CNG ships have been constructed to date. All of the CNG technology firms are actively seeking a project that can support construction of one or more CNG vessels. CNG as a transportation option for this article treats the CNG transportation cost as a tariff. The number of CNG ships required will vary with the distance to shore and reliability requirements and is reflected in a higher tariff for longer distances. Inlet pressure to the CNG ship is assumed to be 3,000 psig. Allowance is made for infrastructure at the receiving location for offloading the gas either into storage or an existing pipeline infrastructure.