LNG and LIN can be Alternative Fracturing Methods for Shale Gas
What do you think? Would this be an economic alternative to fracking with water and environmentally objectionable chemicals if congress should decide to give EPA oversight?
http://www.glgroup.com/News/LNG-and-LIN-can-be-Alternative-Fracturi...
...the oil & gas industry has more advanced techniques in their pocket and can outplay the EPA with clean cryogenic fracturing. LIN (liquid nitrogen) has ben used successfully in Texas EOR projects by Big Three, now part of L'Air Liquide. Nitrogen comes from the atmosphere and would return to the atmosphere without any environmental issues as the gas processing and industrial gas companies are experts in separating N2 from NG.
A more interesting and probably commercially attractive solution would be fracturing with LNG derived from the field shale gas. Cryogenic fracturing would tend to decrease the flow rates of the LNG injections when compared with water fracking due to the significant cryogenic fracking component. With LNG fracking there would be no environmental issues since nearly all the gas would end up in the pipeline. Considering overall investment costs, it may also be feasible - depending on the world LNG market- to truck imported LNG on the Gulf Coast and or the East Coast to the shale plays and inject the LNG for cryogenic fracturing whereby the LNG will in the end be vaporized and put in the pipeline as NG...
http://www.glgroup.com/News/LNG-and-LIN-can-be-Alternative-Fracturi...
...the oil & gas industry has more advanced techniques in their pocket and can outplay the EPA with clean cryogenic fracturing. LIN (liquid nitrogen) has ben used successfully in Texas EOR projects by Big Three, now part of L'Air Liquide. Nitrogen comes from the atmosphere and would return to the atmosphere without any environmental issues as the gas processing and industrial gas companies are experts in separating N2 from NG.
A more interesting and probably commercially attractive solution would be fracturing with LNG derived from the field shale gas. Cryogenic fracturing would tend to decrease the flow rates of the LNG injections when compared with water fracking due to the significant cryogenic fracking component. With LNG fracking there would be no environmental issues since nearly all the gas would end up in the pipeline. Considering overall investment costs, it may also be feasible - depending on the world LNG market- to truck imported LNG on the Gulf Coast and or the East Coast to the shale plays and inject the LNG for cryogenic fracturing whereby the LNG will in the end be vaporized and put in the pipeline as NG...
Views: 635
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on -
Jffree, it may be technically feasible but I am sure there must be other issues that would make it very difficult (and costly?) to actually apply. If it was that easy, operators would already be utilizing the technique. If I were a mineral owner, I would not want them using my well as the test case.
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Permalink Reply by jffree1 on
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Thanks, Les. That is kinda what I was thinking. And, I'm with you on the "guinea pig" angle, LOL.
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Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on -
I don't quite see what advantage using LIN or LNG to frac does for you.
You're still going to need proppant, aren't you? Why is mixing the proppant with LNG going to have any better environmental effects than fracing with H20?
H20 is generally harmless, the environmental damage comes from the contaminants that comes back up the pipe after fracing. Does it really make that much difference if the contaminants are mixed with LNG vs. H2O?
I guess that you can let the LNG evaporate from the backflow, leaving you with a lower volume of more concentrated fracing waste.
You would have the advantage of not using water for fracing. You wouldn't have to haul off as much volume of waste.
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I don't think it's the water that is at issue, Mac. It's the additives, that help the water carry the proppant, that are causing all the hissy fits.
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Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on
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jffree1, are you saying that the LNG/LIN can carry the proppant without some sort of nasty additives that are necessary with water?
That WOULD make sense.
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Mac Davis, That's why I asked the question. I don't know anything about fracking with LNG/LIN. I never heard of such until I read this article and would like to get a little industry enlightenment.
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Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on
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I would think that some special pipe would have to be used. That liquid gas is real cold. I remember back in grammer school when the traveling science fellow put on a show where he dropped certian things into liquid Nitrogen then threw them on the floor and they busted into a million pieces.
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Thanks, Two Dogs. I did know that Nitrogen (liquid? I don't know) is generally the storage medium for genetic material and that it is very cold.
How would it carry the proppant needed to keep the shale fractures open, once achieved? Would it be more a function of pressure or of the viscosity of the LIN?
I would think that, even though this might have been used successfully in a more porous type of rock, it might have a different set of problems connected with use in shale. Any thoughts... anyone? -
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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There are a number of additives used for a number of purposes. They represent a small fraction of 1%. Some are surfactants that make the water "slick". There are anti-corrosives as the flowback water will have a high salt content. Anti-bacterials to retard the growth of bacteria. I believe you can perform an on-line search and find a more complete list. I have seen several.
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Permalink Reply by sesport on
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olddog573 - see if this helps
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/uic/pdfs/cbmstudy_attach_uic_ch04_hyd_...
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To get things back on point... I would like to hear some industry discussion about whether the use of LNG/LIN is or is not a viable economic alternative to fracking with water, IF Congress ever allows EPA to impose harsh new regulation on hydraulic fracturing. It was not meant to incite yet another discussion of the mystery ingredients of Frack Solutions commonly in use today.
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