INTRODUCTION

1.1 What is Natural Gas?

Natural gas is a combustible, gaseous mixture of simple hydrocarbon compounds, usually
found in deep underground reservoirs formed by porous rock. Natural gas is a fossil fuel
composed almost entirely of methane, but does contain small amounts of other gases,
including ethane, propane, butane and pentane. Methane is composed of a molecule of one
carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms.
Natural gas is used extensively in residential, commercial
and industrial applications. The use of natural gas is also
rapidly increasing in electric power generation and
cooling. Natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel,
producing primarily carbon dioxide, water vapor and
small amounts of nitrogen oxides.

The prevailing scientific theory is that natural gas was

formed millions of years ago when plants and tiny sea
animals were buried by sand and rock. Layers of mud,
sand, rock and plant and animal matter continued to build
up until the pressure and heat from the earth turned them
into petroleum and natural gas.

Three types of rock formations allow the natural gas to form and collect. The source rock is
the rock that produces the natural gas. The reservoir rock is the porous rock that the natural
gas seeps into as it rises. And the cap rock, or seal, is the layer of very dense rock above the
reservoir rock that keeps the gas from leaking to the surface. The reservoir rock and cap rock
together are known as a gas trap.

Natural gas, like other forms of heat energy, is measured in British thermal units or Btu. One
Btu is equivalent to the heat needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one
degree Fahrenheit at atmosphere pressure.
A cubic foot of natural gas has about 1,027 Btu. Natural gas is normally sold from the
wellhead in the production field to purchasers in standard volume measurements of thousands
of cubic feet (Mcf). However, consumer bills are usually measured in heat content or therms.
One therm is a unit of heating equal to 100,000 Btu.
Three segments of the natural gas industry are involved in delivering natural gas from the
wellhead to the consumer. Production companies explore, drill and extract natural gas from
the ground. Transmission companies operate the pipelines that link the gas fields to major
consuming areas. Distribution companies are the local utilities that deliver natural gas to the
customer.
Natural gas can be compressed under high pressure, resulting in what is called compressed
natural gas (CNG). It can then be used as a fuel in cars, vans and light trucks.
Natural gas can be liquefied, resulting in liquefied natural gas (LNG). When natural gas is
cooled to -161C it becomes a liquid and takes up just 1/600th the volume of the gaseous state.
In this form, it can be used as a fuel for ships and trucks, and can be transported by ship over
long distances.

1.2 Natural Gas Reserves

Two terms are frequently used to express natural gas reserves: proved reserves and potential
resources. Proved reserves are those quantities of gas that have been found by the drill. They
can be proved by known reservoir characteristics such as production data, pressure
relationships, and other data, so that volumes of gas can be determined with reasonable
accuracy. Potential resources constitute those quantities of natural gas that are believed to
exist in various rocks of the Earth's crust but have not yet been found by the drill. They are
future supplies beyond the proved reserves.
Different methodologies have been used in arriving at estimates of the future potential of
natural gas. Some estimates were based on growth curves, extrapolations of past production,
exploratory footage drilled, and discovery rates. Empirical models of gas discoveries and
production have also been developed and converted to mathematical models. Future gas
supplies as a ratio of the amount of oil to be discovered is a method that has been used also.
Another approach is a volumetric appraisal of the potential undrilled areas. Different limiting
assumptions have been made, such as drilling depths, water depths in offshore areas,
economics, and technological factors.

1.3 Types of Natural Gas Resources

The natural gases can be classified as conventional natural gas, gas in tight sands, gas in tight
shales, coal-bed methane, gas in geopressured reservoirs, and gas in gas hydrates.
Conventional natural gas is either associated or non-associated gas. Associated or dissolved
gas is found with crude oil. Dissolved gas is that portion of the gas dissolved in the crude oil
and associated gas (sometimes called gas-cap gas) is free gas in contact with the crude oil. All
crude oil reservoirs contain dissolved gas and may or may not contain associated gas. Non
associated gas is found in a reservoir that contains a minimal quantity of crude oil. Some gases
are called gas condensates or simply condensates. Although they occur as gases in
underground reservoirs, they have a high content of hydrocarbon liquids. On production, they
may yield considerable quantities of hydrocarbon liquids.

1.4 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 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.
The inorganic compounds nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide are not desirable
because they are not combustible and cause corrosion and other problems in gas production
and processing systems.
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, demonstrated in Figure 1, associated with phase envelopes are worth introducing
before we discuss different types of natural gas behaviors.

Bubble Point Curve: the curve that separates the pure liquid (oil) phase from the
two-phase (natural gas and oil) region.

This means that at a given temperature, when pressure decreases and below the bubble
point curve, gas will be emitted from the liquid phase to the two-phase region.

Dew Point Curve: the curve that separates the pure gas phase from the two-phase
region. It is the connected points of pressure and temperature at which the first liquid
droplet is formed out of the gas phase.

Critical Point: the point on the phase envelope where the bubble point curve meets the
dew point curve. At that given pressure and temperature, gas properties are identical to
liquid properties. The pressure and temperature at the critical point are called critical
pressure and temperature, respectively.

Cricondentherm: the highest temperature at which liquid and vapor can coexist. That
means the mixture will be gas irrespective of pressure when the temperature is larger
than cricondentherm.

Cricondenbar: the highest pressure at which a liquid and vapor can coexist.

Figure 1. Phase diagram

Clearly, the natural gas phase envelope can be very different depending on its source.

1.4.1 Dry and Wet-Gas Phase Behaviors

Dry gas is in the gaseous phase under reservoir conditions, as marked by point A in Figure 1.
It contains primarily methane with small amounts of ethane, propane, and butane, with little or
no heavier compounds. When it is produced to the surface, it is maintained in the gaseous
phase with surface temperature falling outside the two-phase envelope. Therefore it will not
form any liquids, which are at times referred to as NGL (natural gas liquids).
Wet gas, on the other hand, will have liquid dropped out once it reaches the surface, which
means that the surface conditions of pressure and temperature will fall inside the two-phase
region.

1.4.2 Retrograde-Condensate-Gas Phase Behavior

Retrograde condensate systems and reservoirs are a unique phenomenon that appears only
among hydrocarbon mixtures. No other mixtures of gases exhibit such behavior. As pressure
decreases from point B to the two-phase shaded area in Figure 1, the amount of liquid in the
reservoir increases. As pressure decreases further, liquid starts to revaporize. Between the dew
point and the point where liquid revaporizes is the region (shaded area in Figure 1) of
retrograde condensation (McCain, 1973). Many natural gas reservoirs behave in this manner.
During production from such reservoirs, the pressure gradient formed between the reservoir
pressure and the flowing bottomhole pressure may result in liquid condensation and form a
condensate bank around the wellbore, reduce gas relative permeability and remain
unrecoverable. Sometimes it could seize production (Wang, 2000).
One way to prevent the formation of condensate is to maintain the flowing well bottomhole
pressure above the dew point pressure. This is often not satisfactory because the drawdown
(reservoir pressure minus flowing bottomhole pressure) may not be sufficient enough for the
economic production rate. An alternative technique is to allow the formation of condensate,
but occasionally to inject methane gas into the production well. The gas dissolves and sweeps
the liquid condensate into the reservoir. The well is then put back in production. This approach
is repeated several times in the life of the well. It is known as gas cycling. Another way is to
inject both nitrogen and methane, which develops a miscible displacement process and results
in high condensate recoveries (Sanger and Hagoort, 1998).
Removing the bank of condensate from the near-wellbore region is still a challenge for the oil
and gas industry. Understanding the near-wellbore gas-condensate flow is thus very important
to optimize production of gas-condensate reservoirs.

1.4.3 Associated Gas Phase Behavior

Under reservoir conditions, gas is often dissolved in the oil phase as associated gas. As it is
produced to the surface under lower pressure and temperature, gas will come out from the oil
phase. An oil reservoir whose pressure is above the bubble point (point C in Figure 1) is
usually referred to as undersaturated. If the pressure is inside the two-phase envelope it is
called a saturated, or two-phase, reservoir and may form a gas-cap on top of the oil zone.