How are clean technologies being used in the oil and gas industry?

Associated Gas as Feedstock for Mining

APG is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases including ethane, propane and butane, which after certain processing can be used in petrochemical and housing sectors or as motor fuel. This is why the quickest way to minimize APG flaring is to build gas conversion facilities.

As an alternative, APG can be used for power generation, in which case associated gas is subject to treatment using membranes or cryogenic technology before being fed to combined cycle gas turbines to produce electricity.  This APG disposal solution may become especially relevant with the development of digital currencies. In countries and regions where cryptocurrency mining is legal, associated gas can be used as power generation fuel to support mining farms. This is how green agenda combines with highly profitable business.

CO₂ Storage

One of the largest consumers of CO₂ is oil production where it is injected into reservoirs to increase oil recovery. Other consuming industries include the production of meat and carbonated soft drinks; CO₂ is also used in nuclear reactor cooling systems. However the amounts of CO₂ expected to be captured over the next few years may still significantly exceed its utilization. Solution may be sought by storing carbon dioxide in depleted oil and gas reservoirs.

One such project will be put in place in the next few years in Malaysia with carbon dioxide captured at the Kasawari gas field 200 km off the country’s northern coast. For this purpose, an eight-leg platform with CO₂ sequestration equipment will be submerged to the depth of 108 meters. The storage function will be performed by the M1 depleted gas field, where captured carbon dioxide will be delivered via a 138 km pipeline. Between 71 and 76 mln t of CO₂ will be disposed of throughout the project life cycle. To compare: according to Energy Institute, in 2023 global CO₂ emissions from associated petroleum gas flaring amounted to 317 mln t.

М1 will be one of Malaysia’s 16 fields to be turned into carbon dioxide storage facility. Their combined underwater storage capacity be 1.3 trillion m³ of CO₂, of which 60% will be provided by Malaysian companies and 40% by CO₂ emitters from other countries.

Forest Plantations

Recently a number of oil and gas companies have entered the carbon market which enabled them to invest indirectly in environmental projects. This mechanism normally involves two stages. A project designed to capture harmful emissions is subject to international standardization, after which the project operator is authorized to issue CO₂ capture certificates. Such certificates are then purchased by manufacturers of carbon-intensive products enabling them to reduce their overall emissions balance by the amount of CO₂ sequestered through external project. In this way, oil and gas companies can improve their emissions balance, while environmental project operators secure funding for their new initiatives.

Russia can become a major player In this market by growing forests on abandoned farmlands. Russia has been estimated to have 76 mln ha of unused agricultural fields (4.5% of the country’s total territory), including 30 mln ha of naturally afforested land. Those areas can be used for forest plantations, in particular with the tree crops that have the highest CO₂ sequestration capacity.

International forest certification will allow oil and gas companies not only to improve environmental reporting but also to reduce the burden on traditional forests.

CO₂ Capture

The most common classification of greenhouse gas emissions can be demonstrated using an oil refinery as a model. Scope 1 emissions are greenhouse gases generated when extracting the feedstock for petroleum products (i. e in oil production);  Scope 2 emissions are greenhouse gases associated with electricity generation for the refinery’s own consumption; Scope 3 emissions are greenhouse gases produced by gasoline and diesel fuel combustion in automobile engines.

Oil and gas companies cut their Scope 2 emissions by using “clean” power: for example, LNG plants are often powered from wind sources. Scope 1 emissions, on the other hand, are reduced through the application of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technologies .

There are two principal CO₂ capture  technologies: monoethanolamine-based solutions – colorless liquids with a slight ammonia smell which easily absorb CO₂: when the resulting mixture is heated to 120 degrees Celsius, carbon dioxide is separated from monoethanolamine molecules; and metalloorganic frameworks (MOFs) – crystallized porous materials held together by organic molecules: external compounds such as carbon dioxide can be placed inside MOF and released later by altering temperature and pressure.

One of the largest CCUS projects will be implemented within the next few years in Texas where petrochemical and refining companies will join efforts to build a hub with a total capacity of 100 mln t of CO₂.

Innovations to Eliminate Oil Spills

One of the oil industry’s sore points is crude oil and petroleum product spills. The resulting damage depends to a great extent on how quickly the fuel can be removed from the ground or water surface, and here the most recent innovations are extremely helpful.

One of them is Teflon- and graphene-based composite aerogel characterized by low density (8 grams per liter) and “superhydrophobic” behavior. Due to this combination of properties, the gel acts as absorbent for petroleum, gasoline, kerosene and heating oil without absorbing water, and can remain on the surface for a long time. One gram of aerogel can absorb up to 60 grams of petroleum; the absorbent is reusable after cleaning with organic solvents. Another novelty is mobile laser systems that burn out petroleum or its derivatives within the range of 300 meters.

Yet preventing oil spills is as important as eliminating them, and this is achieved by using predominantly two types of sensor systems: “extenders” which are fixed along the pipe and transmit a leak signal using IoT capabilities, and stationary sensors installed under the most critical pipeline sections to generate leak alerts.

In Conclusion

The use of “clean” technologies in the oil and gas industry is not limited to the listed cases. This also includes the introduction of membrane filtration of wastewater from oil refineries and the use of heavy oil residues to produce bitumen. However, it is not so much specific examples that are important as the principle itself: environmental spending is not just an “image” story for oil and gas companies, but also, in some cases, a source of income.