Gas monetisation8 Mar 2022 09:22
Thank God TAC is here and we can finally talk about something other than Heid......
I'd be interested in TAC's opinion of the merits of Gas-to-wire. This is my (personally) favoured plan on balance, as opposed to gas export. I used to be a shareholder of Alkane plc which sealed off old coal mines and ran the collected methane through containerised gas engines. They had multiple sites in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire mostly. They were sold off to a big services company like Grindr I think when they went into Anaerobic Digestors too.
The advantages are (other than the gas doesn't need processing for gas engines):
1. The engines are modular - you can add and subtract the number working depending on the gas resource, and shift engines between your sites. The 2 undeveloped intervals at Wressle may add or sustain production of gas in the future. We don't know, and gas engines give optionality.
2. There is more jiggery pokery you can do with peak loading and tolling, which enhances the income compared with baseload generation.
3. The gas engines are thermally quite efficient, approaching 50%. This means that the costs of a gas to gas-main connection would have to be either very cheap or give a massive financial advantage to warrant the greater cost.
4. The gas production at Wressle in the September RNS was enough for 1.5MW-3MW I calculated. We don't know what the gas production will be if they open the choke up for 1200 bopd though.
5. There's massive great pylon about 50m north of the site and S****horpe steel works a few miles to the West, suggesting that the electricity transfer system is easily accessible for export. I can't see any gas mains on Google Earth.
6. From a national point of view, if the gas is going to be used for electricity generation anyway, why not cut out the middle man? 3MW of base load not insignificant.
7. The earlier the gas is monetised, the more 'history' there is to support future onshore development work. UJO and partners can point to their significant contribution to UK energy security with more to back it up. Scoreboard Pressure guys! Numbers talk.
8. Flared gas is a wasted opportunity in the short term and source of CO2 that is an open goal for swampies.
9. West Newton, with 5 engines in parallel (5 standard ISO containers) could knock out 10-15MW day in day out. Is that the quickest route to monetise some of the resource to fund ongoing development internally.