TANZANIA PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION (TPDC)

TITLE OF THE PAPER

MECHANISM OF PRODUCTION OF DRY GAS
FROM GAS WELLS

ABSTRACT
This paper aims to discuss the useful methods in production of dry gas from reservoir of natural
gas, the paper will consist of two parts the first part will be the introduction which base on the
general concept of natural gas and the second part will be about the mechanism used to obtain
the dry gas.

1. INTRODUCTION

Natural gas is a subcategory of petroleum that is a naturally occurring complex mixture of

hydrocarbons, with the minor amount of inorganic compounds.Methane is the major component
of the gas mixture while other hydrocarbons like ethane, propane,i-butane, n-butane, i-pentane,
n-pentane, hexane, heptanes and heavier may be found on natural gas in minor components.
The inorganic compounds which may be found in the natural gas in small amount are carbon
dioxide hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen sulfide and nitrogen.

1.1.

Types of natural gas

There are three types of natural gas named as:

i.
ii.
iii.

Non associated gas

Associated gas
Gas condensate

Non associated gas is the reservoir with minimal oil

Associated gas is the gas dissolved in oil under natural condition in the oil reservoir
Gas condensate is the gas with high content of liquid hydrocarbon at reduced pressure
and temperature.
1.2.

Types of wells
There three types of wells
i.
Crude oil wells
ii.
Gas wells
iii.
Condensate wells

1.2.1. CRUDE OIL WELLS:

Raw natural gas that comes from crude oil wells is called associated gas. This gas can exist
separate from the crude oil in the underground formation, or dissolved in the crude oil. Crude oil
wells are wells with producing (GOR) being less than 5,000 scf/stb

1.2.2. GAS WELLS

These wells typically produce only raw natural gas that does not contain any hydrocarbon
liquids. Such gas is called non-associated gas, Gas wells are wells with producing gas oil ration
(GOR) being greater than 100,000scf/stb.

1.2.3. CONDENSATE WELLS

These wells produce raw natural gas along with natural gas liquid, such gas is also nonassociated gas and often referred to as wet gas. Condensate wells are those with producing
(GOR) being less than 100,000scf/stb.
In this paper I shall concentrate on gas wells and condensate wells.

2. BASIC CONCEPT OF NON ASSOCIATED NATURAL GAS PROCESSING

Raw natural gas after transmission through the field-gathering network
must be processed before it can be moved into long-distance pipeline
system for use by consumers. The objective of gas processing is to
separate.
i.
Natural gas
ii.
Water

iii.
iv.
v.

Condensate
Non condensable
Acid gas

The first unit module physical separation of the distinct phasesare typically
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.

Gas
Liquid hydrocarbons,
Liquid water, and/or
Solids.
Phase separation of the production stream is usually performed in an inlet
Separator.

Phase separation of the production stream is usually performed in an inlet separator.

The follow chart of natural gas processing is shown in the figure below.

2.1.

TRANSPORTED RAW GAS

The raw gas for non associated gas is the gas which contains the major amount of methane and
small amount of inorganic components like carbon dioxide hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen sulfide
and nitrogen.

2.2.

PHASE SEPARATION

Hydrocarbon condensate recovered from natural gas may be shipped without further processing
but is typically stabilized to produce a safe transportable liquid. Unstabilized condensates contain
a large percentage of methane and ethane, which will vaporize easily in storage tanks.
2.3.
GAS TREATING
The next step in natural gas processing is acid gas treating.In addition to heavy hydrocarbons and
water vapor, natural gas often contains other contaminants that may have to be removed. Carbon
dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and other sulfur-containingpecies such as mercaptans
are compounds that require complete orpartial removal. These compounds are collectively
known as acidgases. H2S when combined with water forms a weak sulfuric acid,whereas CO2
and water form carbonic acid, thus the term acid gas.Natural gas with H2S or other sulfur
compounds present is called sourgas, whereas gas with only CO2 is called sweet.Both H2S
and CO2 are very undesirable, as they cause corrosion.

2.4.

The figure above is sweeting process for the sour gas

DEHYDRATION PROCESS

Natural gas dehydration is the process of removing water vapor from the gas stream to lower the
dew point of that gas. The dew point is defined as the temperature at which water vapor
condenses from the gas stream.The sale contracts of natural gas specify either its dew point or
the maximum amount of water vapor present.
There are two basic reasons for the dehydration of natural gas streams:
i.
To prevent hydrate formation.

ii.

To avoid corrosion problems.

The methods of dehydration are:.

2.4.1. Absorption dehydration process
In dehydration by absorption water is removed by a liquid with strong affinity for water,
glycols being the most common. The lean (dry) glycol removes the water from the gas
in an absorption column known as a contactor. After the contactor the rich (wet) glycol
must be regenerated before it can be reused in the contactor.

With the grycol absortion method water is reduced down up to approximately 10ppmvol.

2.4.2. Adsorption dehydration process