Converting field gas to power

The customer is the largest oil and gas group in South-Eastern Europe. During the oil extraction process, associated petroleum gas is also produced, which is often seen as a waste by-product. Faced with tightening local restrictions on flaring this gas, The company saw an opportunity to improve their carbon footprint by minimising gas emissions, and to better exploit available energy sources.

With harsh Romanian winters and warm summers, operating conditions would present a challenge, with temperatures varying from -20oC to +40oC.

Could the associated petroleum gas be converted to power and monetised? Would the remote location and inhospitable range of temperature prove too extreme?

The client turned to us to find an answer.

Instead of opting for costly new installations to treat and transport the gas, we offered an approach using a gas treatment skid to treat the gas, making it usable as fuel in our gas generator engines to produce electricity. This was then consumed locally and excess energy fed directly into the national power grid.

Feeding direct to the grid comes with high restrictions and complex project implementation. Our full turn-key package means we assume full responsibility for permissions, construction, implementing gas and electrical connections, engineering, operating and high quality maintenance, and health and safety of the power facility on a long term basis.

Initially deployed and tested at one site in 2009, our mobile, modular equipment, flexible approach, exceptional service and ability to maintain reliable power to the site proved to be more than a match for the remote location and extreme temperatures. So much so, that it was deployed to a further 11 sites within the first two years of the initial contract and at its peak of the contract in 2016, it was deployed at 16 sites in total, with a total capacity of 40 MW.

We helped the oil company avoid restrictions associated with gas flaring and emissions, reducing their carbon footprint and environmental impact, while simultaneously generating revenue from what was essentially treated as waste gas.