Name of University / University of Basra for Oil and Gas

Name of college/ College of Oil and Gas

Name of department / Polymer & Petrochemicals

Name of Students

-Mohammed Badr Jasub

-Jabbar Mohammed Jabbar
-Montadher Mohammed Jassim

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Introduction
Petroleum reservoirs, both oil and gas, are the result of sedimentary processes
that happened over an extensive geological history. Figures shows artistic
cutaways of two reservoirs, one onshore and another offshore. It is important
for the reader to conceptualize how petroleum reservoirs are configured
underground, at great depths and, at times, also under many thousands of feet
of water

Different geological settings have led to sandstone, carbonate, or conglomerate

lithologies. represents an artist’s rendition of one common type of sedimentary
settings with features that eventually would evolve into different types of
reservoirs.There is gradation between deep highly consolidated rocks at, e.g.,
20,000 ft depth and highly unconsolidated rocks at 1,000 ft.

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Natural Gas Origins and Accumulations

It is commonly accepted that natural gas, like oil, has been generated from
organic debris that have been deposited in geologic time and have been
embedded along with inorganic matter at a considerable depth below today’s
surface. Over time (tens to hundreds of millions of years), because of
compaction, high pressure, and temperature, the organic material gradually
became coal, oil, or natural gas. Because natural gas and oil are found with
water, and because they are less dense, they would rise vertically, including all
the way to the atmosphere. Much has escaped over time and continues to this
day. There are exceptions to the following, but depths of 3,000 ft or less are
likely to contain heavy oil with virtually no gas. Oil becomes lighter as the depth
increases, which means that gas coexists with oil. Gas can be in the form of a
gas-cap on top of the oil zone, or it can be dissolved in the oil. As depth
increases, more gas is present. Around 10,000 to 12,000 ft depth are some of
the most prolific oil reservoirs in the world and almost all of them contain oil of
API gravity between 28 and 32.

Gas cap
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Natural gas
Natural gas is the gas obtained from natural underground reservoirs either as
free gas or gas associated with crude oil. It generally contains large amounts of
methane (CH4) along with decreasing amounts of other hydrocarbons.
Impurities such as H2S, N2, and CO2 are often found with the gas. It also
generally comes saturated with water vapor.

Nonassociated Gas
These are reservoirs that contain almost entirely natural gas at reservoir
conditions. They are generally found at greater depth. If the fluid at the surface
still remains gas, then it is called “dry gas.” If the surface pressures cause some
liquid hydrocarbons to evolve, it is called a “wet gas” reservoir. It must be
emphasized that while nonassociated gas reservoirs are likely to be found at
greater depths, upward migration from the source rock, in geologic time, can
result in shallow gas reservoirs, and in some cases, such as the Arctic, the cap
rock may be the permafrost.

Associated Gas
Almost all oil reservoirs except those classified as extra heavy or tars will
produce some natural gas at the surface. Oil will not be shipped in a commercial
pipeline or a tanker with gas still in the solution. The term stock tank oil, which
is used both as a measure for oil well performance and in commercial pricing of
oil, means that all associated gas has been stripped from the liquid at one
atmosphere pressure. The gas thus liberated is known as “associated gas.”
Unconventional Gas
The term unconventional gas is widely used, but it refers more to the geological
setting and rock type rather than to the gas itself, which is nearly all methane.
When the term was coined, it implied that these reservoirs presented
operational or economic challenges or both.
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Natural Gas Composition and Phase Behavior

Depending on where and from what type of reservoir the natural gas is
produced, its composition can vary widely. Generally, it contains primarily from
aliphatic hydrocarbon occur in two form: paraffin and olefin hydrocarbons such
as methane (CH4) with decreasing quantities of ethane (C2H6), propane
(C3H8), butane (C4H10), and pentane (C5H12). Some natural gas mixtures can
also contain nonhydrocarbon gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), oxygen (O2),
nitrogen (N2), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), and traces of rare gases (Ar, He, Ne,
Xe). No matter what the natural composition of gas is, the product delivered
and finally used by the consumers is almost pure methane.

Natural gas phase behavior is a function of pressure, temperature, and volume.

Therefore, it is very often illustrated by the “PVT diagram” or phase behavior
envelope. Understanding phase behavior is critical to the hydrocarbon recovery
mechanism and production prediction. Certain concepts, associated with phase
envelopes are worth introducing before we discuss different types of natural
gas behaviors.

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Natural Gas Properties

From the previous section it is clear that the fluid finds itself at different
pressures and temperatures during the whole process of natural gas
production. Unlike those of oil, natural gas properties vary significantly with
pressure, temperature, and gas composition. Below is an outline of the gas
properties that play very important roles in gas production, prediction, and
evaluation. These include the gas specific gravity (often compared to air), the
gas deviation factor, density, viscosity, isothermal compressibility, and the
formation volume factor.

Chemical and Physical Properties

Natural gas is colorless, odorless, tasteless, shapeless, and lighter than air. The
natural gas after appropriate treatment for acid gas reduction, odorization, and
hydrocarbon and moisture dew point adjustment would then be sold within
prescribed limits of pressure, calorific value, and possibly Wobbe index (often
referred to as the Wobbe number).

The Wobbe index (calorific value divided by the specific gravity) gives a
measure of the heat input to an appliance through a given aperture at a given
gas pressure.

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Natural Gas Processing

Natural Gas and Liquid Separation;

Natural gas and liquid separation are usually performed in the field immediately
after the gas is produced. A field separator is intended to remove solids and
free liquid from the gas, the entrained liquid mist from the gas, and the
entrained gas from the liquid. In addition, the separated gas and liquid from the
vessel must be discharged without re-entrainment. Several technologies are
available to achieve those goals: gravity separators, centrifugal separators or
cyclone separators, filter vane separators and mist eliminator pads.

Gravity Separation Mechanism

A gravity separator, also called a “knockout drum” or, more formally,

gravitational-forces-controlled separator, is typically used as a first stage
scrubber. In such a liquid-vapor separation vessel, there are typically three
stages of separation:

The first stage is gas passing through the inlet diverter. This causes the largest liquid
droplets to collide on the diverter and then drop out by gravity. Now inlet
diverters have evolved and new cyclonic and distribution baffle inlet devices are used.

The next stage is when the gas flows through the vapor disengagement section of the
separator where smaller droplets are separated from gas by gravity

The third and final stage is mist elimination where the smallest droplets amalgamate
and form larger droplets and separated by gravity.
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Gravity Separation of Two Phases (Gas and Liquid)

In separating two phases (gas and liquid) vertically, gravity and flow direction
are expected to play a significant role. The droplets of any liquid in a gas flow
are acted on by three forces (shown in Figure ):

Gravity (directed downward), buoyancy (opposite of the gravity force), and drag
(opposite of the direction of droplet velocity). As a result, the liquid droplet
will move in the direction of the net force.

Three-Phase Separator Design

Three-phase separators can be either vertical or horizontal, but almost

invariably are horizontal. vertical orientation is used when large amounts of gas
need to be separated from a relatively small amount of light and heavy liquids
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NATURAL GAS DEHYDRATION

Natural gas dehydration is the process of removing water vapor from the gas
stream to lower the dew point of that gas. The dew point is defined as the
temperature at which water vapor condenses from the gas stream. The sale
contracts of natural gas specify either its dew point or the maximum amount of
water vapor present.

There are three basic reasons for the dehydration of natural gas streams;

1. It could form solid hydrates. at certain pressures and temperatures, which

can plug facilities and pipelines.

2. When pressure and temperature drop, water vapor condenses and can cause
slug flow and possible erosion and corrosion in the system, especially when acid
gases are present.

3. Water vapor increases the total volume and decreases the heating value of
gas.

Most free water is removed after the gas-liquid separation is at or near the
wellhead. However, there are still small amounts of water vapor associated
with the main stream of natural gas that requires further treatment to remove
(dehydration).

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Natural gas uses
There are three primary uses for natural gas. Here’s a quick look at what they are.

1. Electric Power Plants

The fastest growing use of natural gas today is for the generation of electric

power. Natural gas power plants usually generate electricity in gas turbines

(which are derived from jet engines), directly using the hot exhaust gases of

fuel combustion.

Single-cycle gas turbines generally convert the heat energy from combustion

into electricity at efficiencies of 35 to 40 percent. Higher efficiencies of 50

percent or more are possible in natural gas “combined-cycle” (NGCC) plants.

NGCC plants first use the combustion gases to drive a gas turbine, after which

the hot exhaust from the gas turbine is used to boil water into steam and drive

a steam turbine.

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2-Heating and cogeneration

natural gas consumption, as gas is used in buildings for space and water
heating and for cooking. Natural gas can also be used to produce both heat and
electricity simultaneously, a technology called “cogeneration” or “combined
heat and power” (CHP).

3-Industrial and other uses

Natural gas sees a broad range of other uses in industry, as a source of both
heat and power and as an input for producing plastics and chemicals. Most
hydrogen gas (H2) production, for example, comes from reacting high
temperature water vapor (steam) with methane. Today, the resulting
hydrogen is mostly used to produce ammonia for fertilizer, one of the most
important industrial products derived from natural gas. Hydrogen produced
from natural gas can itself be used as a fuel.

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References:
1) Advanced Natural Gas Engineering. Xiuli Wang and Michael Economides.
2009 by Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas.

2) The Refinery of the Future. James G. Speight CD&W Inc., Laramie, Wyoming,
United States 2020 Elsevier Inc.

3) Natural gas processing principle and technology – part 1, A.H Younger. 2004
university of Calgary

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