Gas Reserves and Resources

Classification of gas reserves and resources recommended by the World Petroleum Congress in 1987... 

The terms oil production and gas production refer to rates of extraction of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon materials from natural underground deposits. Reserves and resources, on the other hand, refer to amounts of oil and gas that are present in the deposits, the difference between reserves and resources being whether or not the amounts can be economically recovered under current conditions. Supply refers to the amount of a product that becomes available for... 

Figure 3.20 shows the distribution of the EUR, i.e., cumulative production, reserves and resources of conventional natural gas for different world regions. 

Resource estimates and current production Natural gas from coal is present wherever coal is found and, as coal is found in great quantities throughout the world (see Section 3.5), natural gas from coal may represent a large energy source. As for all types of unconventional gas, the published reserve and resource figures show great variations and are often based on estimations from incomplete data. In addition, as... 

The reserves and resources of conventional NG are comparable in size to those of conventional oil, but global gas consumption is still considerably lower than that of oil. NG is found around the world, but the largest reserves are in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. The proved gas reserves are unevenly distributed around the globe 41% are in the Middle East and 27% in Russia. Global natural gas reserves by countiy are shown in Table 1.9. 

Defined as the estimated quantum of the reserves to the annual production rate In this context it should be mentioned that reserves only reflects sources that are discovered and deemed economically exploitable. This means that there is no direct correlation between reserves and resources - as new sources are added to the reserves each year - especially natural gas. 

Figure 5.8. Proven reserves of oil and natural gas liquids (unit Wy/m i.e., for each country, the average number of years for which an energy flow of 1 W per of land surface could be derived at 100% energy extraction efficiency). The resources are distributed over the country land areas, although many of the reserves and resources actually occur off-shore, cf. Fig. 5.9 (based upon data from World Energy Council, 1995 with area-based layout from Sorensen, 1999).

As discussed in Chapter 1, the proven world gas and oil resources show an increase in gas reserves and a leveling off of the oil resources. Most of these reserves are located distantly from the major consumption markets. This is one of the reasons why there is a great incentive to convert natural gas into petrochemicals and clean liquid fuels. 

Oiu present situation concerning major (fossil) energy carriers and energy consumption is characterized by limited reserves and resources as well as enussion problems, considering crude oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium as primary energy sources. At the same time, the worldwide demand for electrical energy has increased from 8.3 million GWh in 1980 to 18.9 million GWh in 2006 and is estimated to further increa.se up to 30.7 million GWh in 2030 (see [1] (Fig. 4.1). 

Reserves and resources of fossU fuels, renewable energy, natural gas and other technical gases, oil and refinery products, coal and coal products, renewable raw materials, and economic and social aspects of (future) energy consumption and mix. 

It is interesting to examine the regional distribution of the reserves and resources of conventional and non-conventional fossil fuels (Tables 5.1.10 and 5.1.11). More than 40% of current reserves of conventional natural gas and crude oil are located in the Middle East whereas the majority of coal reserves are located in North America, Australia, and Asia. This non-uniform distribution of reserves and resources of fossil fuels will play a strong role in future (struggle for resources etc.) and is a political risk. Most of the reserves and resources of non-conventional fossil fuels are located in North America and in the former USSR. 

Table 5.1.11 Regional distribution of reserves and resources of non-conventional fossil fuels 2008. without gas hydrates because the regional distribution is not known (BGR, 2009).

A project division within Norskoil carries out project work. At the first decision gate (DGl), the market organisation of Norskoil, i.e. the client, commissions the project division to start up project work. Before-hand, the client has made the necessary initial evaluations of the potential resource basis of oil and gas and of the market. The scope of work of the feasibility study also has to be defined. This phase aims at demonstrating whether it is technically and economically feasible to develop the field. The project team establishes detailed reservoir models in order to assess the oil and gas reserves and to establish production rates over the field s expected lifespan (production profiles). In parallel, the project evaluates different field-development concepts such as fixed platforms, floating platforms and subsea developments for tie-in to existing platforms in the area. This evaluation is based on information about existing infrastructure, water depth, reservoir models, etc. The activities are documented in a Report of Commerciality. 

Na.tura.1 Ga.s Reserves. U.S. natural gas reserves could support a significant methanol fuel program. 1990 proved, ie, well characterized amounts with access to markets and producible at current market conditions U.S. resources are 4.8 trillion cubic meters... 

Using estimates of proven reserves and commitments to energy and chemical uses of gas resources, the net surplus of natural gas in a number of different countries that might be available for major fuel methanol projects has been determined. These are more than adequate to support methanol as a motor fuel. 

The gas reservoirs located ia very deep waters, ia coal beds, and ia tight sands are now more accessible. Fifteen percent of the U.S. gas supply ia 1992 was derived from tight sand formations and 1.4 x 10 of coal-bed methane was added to the proven reserves (22). In 1992, U.S. proven reserves were placed at 4.67 x 10 ia the lower 48 states, and it was estimated that the identified gas resource ia the United States and Canada exceeds 3.4 X 10. Based on the 1992 rate of natural gas consumption, the United States has between 8 and 10 years of proven reserves and a domestic... 

Debate continues over just how much natural gas remains in North America. Part of this debate centers on the definition of gas reserves—the amount of gas in a given area that is recoverable and gas resource, the total amount of gas in the ground. Gas production to date, as might be expected, has most commonly been from easy-to-produce conventional... 

We need to know about the quantity and quality of oil and gas reseiwes because the prosperity of the world is dependent upon petroleum-based fuels. The debate about forthcoming oil shortages—as soon as 2004 or perhaps later in the twenty-first century— hinges on our understanding of petroleum reserves and future resources. Global catastrophic changes are predicted by some if a shortage occurs early in the twenty-first century however, others are less concerned, because of new estimates of reseiwes and potential petroleum resources. 

These products can be fairly easily processed into high-quality diesel and jet fuel in theory, any source of carbon can be used to generate synthesis gas. These facts along with the growing need for petroleum alternatives have renewed interest in FT synthesis. During the twentieth century, the FT process was used to produce fuels from coal in large and costly reactors. Recently, this megasize approach has been applied to world-scale GTL plants in Qatar. However, to tap abundant biomass resources and stranded natural gas reserves, a smaller scale, yet economically viable, FT process is needed. 

The Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin hosts immense unconventional natural gas hydrate reserves that are often co-located with conventional petroleum resources. Osadetz et al. (2005) reported that the conventional resources are co-located with an immense gas hydrate resource estimated between 2.4 x 1012 and 87 x 1012 m3 of raw natural gas. Because the expected decline in conventional natural gas production from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin cannot be replaced by conventional production from frontier regions alone, this immense hydrate resource offers a solution to replace the expected decline in conventional gas reserves. 

Osadetz, K.G., Morrell, G.R., Dixon, J., Dietrich, J.R., Snowdon, I.R., Dallimore, S.R., Majorowicz, J.A. 2005. Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin A review of conventional and nonconventional (gas hydrate) petroleum reserves and undiscovered resources. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 585. 

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