NATURAL GAS ENERGYSTRANDED RESOURCES?
Are we running out of natural gas energy resources? To properly answer that question we should include all natural gas resources. That includes 'stranded' natural gas. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
As discussed earlier, most current concern is focused on proved natural gas energy reserves. Proved reserves are gas deposits that have already been located, tested, and reasonably accurate estimates of their size are known. These reserves are also readily accessible and economical to bring to market. Not included in those reserve numbers are reserves referred to as ‘stranded’ reserves. So-called stranded natural gas deposits are located in remote areas that make it economically impractical to sink gas wells and pipe or otherwise transport the gas to outlying areas. Deep ocean gas wells are one example of stranded reserves. The gas is there, but there hasn’t been an economical way to bring it to market.
Another type of stranded natural gas energy occurs in gas pockets that have proven to be too small to harvest. Since it can cost hundreds of millions of dollars to sink a useable gas well and get the gas to market, a well has to be a certain size to be economically viable.
Current global consumption of stranded reserves is almost zero. The gas just sits there unused. But economically stranded reserves are huge. U.S. Department of Energy current estimates show global stranded reserve totals of over 3,000 TCF. (Source: D.O.E. Natural Gas Energy Outlook ) That’s in addition to 6,000 TCF of proved reserves.
But if the gas is stranded what is the point in including it in our energy resource base? It turns out that there are now ways to convert natural gas into usable, and extremely clean, diesel fuel and gasoline.
A company called Syntroleum has developed, and continues to improve, a system that can economically turn about 240 cubic feet of natural gas into a gallon of clean oil. The system is economical enough to move small factories on trucks into remote areas and harvest much of what is now known as stranded gas. The system can also be used on gas reserve sites that previously were determined to be too small to be economically recoverable. According to Syntroleum engineers, this system could add 300 billion barrels of very pure oil to global supplies. (Source: Syntroleum Stranded Gas Conversion ) That’s an increase in global oil supplies of 25% just from previously unused, stranded natural gas. So, we can add ‘stranded’ gas reserves to our global natural gas resources. And there is yet another untapped source of natural gas, and it is huge. It is so large, in fact, that it dwarfs all of the fossil fuel resources of oil, coal, and gas reserves combined. _________________________________________________________________
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