Natural gas reserves

Proven oil reserves, instead of being depleted, as a matter of fact, tripled over the last 30 years and now are a trillion barrels. Natural gas reserves have grown even more. This seems so impressive that most people assume that there can be no oil or gas shortage in sight. However, inevitably increasing consumption by a growing world population... 

Recognized Oil and Natural Gas Reserves (in billion tons) from 1960 to 1990... 

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... 

As shown in Table 8, U.S. distribution of oil and natural gas reserves is centered in Alaska, Cahfomia, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and the U.S. outer-continental shelf. Alaska reserves include both the Pmdhoe Bay deposits and the Cook Inlet fields. Cahfomia deposits include those in Santa Barbara, the Wilmington Eield, the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1 at Bakersfield, and other offshore oil deposits. The Yates Pield, Austin Chalk formation, and Permian Basin are among the producing sources of petroleum and natural gas in Texas. 

The decrease in petroleum and natural gas reserves has encouraged interest in and discovery and development of unconventional sources of these hydrocarbons. Principal alternatives to conventional petroleum reserves include oil shale (qv) and tar sands (qv). Oil shale reserves in the United States are estimated at 20,000 EJ (19.4 x 10 Btu) and estimates of tar sands and oil sands reserves are on the order of 11 EJ (10 x 10 Btu) (see Tarsands Shale oil). Of particular interest are the McKittrick, EeUows, and Taft quadrangles of Cahfomia, the Asphalt Ridge area of Utah, the Asphalt, Kentucky area, and related geographic regions. 

Region Coal reservesl991 Petroleumreserves 1992 Natural gas reserves 1992 ... 

The potential of natural gas, which typically has 85—95% methane, has been recognized as a plentiful and clean alternative feedstock to cmde oil (see Gas,natural). Estimates (1 3) place worldwide natural gas reserves at ca 1 x (3.5 x 10 ft ) corresponding to the energy equivalent of ca... 

X 10 (637 X 10 bbl) of oil. As of this writing, the rate of discovery of proven natural gas reserves is increasing faster than the rate of natural gas... 

Confederation of Independent States (CIS) are denoted as explored reserves and include proved, probable, and some possible gas. The data for Canada also include some probable reserves. The worldwide natural gas reserves have continued to increase as the demand for gas has increased and exploration efforts have expanded. In 1976, the world natural gas reserves were estimated to be 6.58 x 10. In 1987, the reserves were 1.06 x lO ", and by 1992... 

Table 1. Natural Gas Reserves, Production, Imports, and Exports ...

World natural gas reserves and production ate shown in Table 3 (see also Fuels, SYN IHETIc). The deposits of natural gas are extensive and provide sources of feedstock and fuel. 

Some petroleum geologists believe that there may be more methane trapped in hydrates than what is associated with natural gas reserves. However, as an energy source, there is considerable uncertainty whether this methane can ever be recovered safely, economically, and with minimal environmental impact. The Russians have experimented with the use of antifreeze to break down hydrates at some onshore locations in Siberia. But perhaps a more promising approach would be to pipe warm surface water to the bottom to melt the hydrates, with a collector positioned to convey the gas to the surface. Another approach might be to free methane by somehow reducing the pressure on the methane hydrates. 

The industry has developed higher compression tanks to expand the range, and more fast-fill stations are becoming available, yet the prospects of the majority of service stations adding compressed natural gas refueling anytime in the near future are bleak. The oil companies, which control most of the service stations and over 60 percent of America s natural gas reserves, are not eager to make the massive infrastructure investment to cannibalize the billions of dollars they have tied up in refineries, pipelines, and service sta-... 

Appraisal wells, drilled at the exploration stage within structures or other traps with an observed oil and gas content for the purpose of studying the geological structure of the deposit and the quality of the mineral to the extent necessary to permit confirmation of oil and natural gas reserves in categories which will serve as a basis for investment decisions, as well as obtaining data required for developing and exploiting the deposit. 

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 aromatization of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) has been investigated for more than a decade due to its economical and strategic importance for the exploitation of natural gas reserves and valorization of light hydrocarbons obtained from petroleum refining. Commercially, these reactions using gallium modified ZSM-5 zeolite catalysts are known as Cyclar process, developed jointly by UOP and BP [1]. 

Natural gas mixtures, pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) behavior of, 12 370 Natural gas production, 12 372-378 13 592 nitrogen in, 17 287 Natural gas reserves, 12 366-369 estimate of undiscovered, 12 368 Natural gas reservoirs, 12 372 Natural graphite, 12 771-799 analytical and test methods for, 12 786-790... 

Countries in the Middle East and Russia hold 70% of the world s dwindling reserves of oil and gas. Coal is the most abundant and widely distributed fossil fuel. Global natural gas reserves are large and currently yield a reserve/production ratio of 50 to 60 years. Nuclear power s share of worldwide electricity supplies has been steady at 16-17% for many years, but reactor safety and waste disposal problems are still matters of concern. 

More than 45% of the world s electricity is generated from coal and it is the major fuel for generating electricity worldwide. The known coal reserves in the world are enongh for consnmption for over 215 years, while the known oil reserves are only abont 39 times the world s consumption and the known natural gas reserves are about 63 times the world s consumption level in 1998. Coal is not only plentiful, but also economical. Advanced coal-fired power generation technologies should be developed worldwide to generate at minimnm economic coal, improve thermal efficiency and meet environmental requirements. 

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. 

Table 1.9 World natural gas reserves by eountry. Adapted from Demirbas (2008)...

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