High Nitrogen Permian Natural Gas a Problem for LNG

It's a Gas Gas Gas - High-Nitrogen Permian Natural Gas Mucks Up Texas Gulf Coast LNG Feedgas

Wednesday, 09/27/2023Published by: Rusty Braziel  rbnenergy.com

There’s a lot of nitrogen out there — it’s the seventh-most common element in the universe and the Earth’s atmosphere is 78% nitrogen (and only 21% oxygen). And there’s certainly nothing new about nitrogen in the production, processing and delivery of natural gas. That’s because all natural gas contains at least a little nitrogen. But lately, the nitrogen content in some U.S. natural gas has become a real headache, and it’s getting worse. There are two things going on. First, a few counties in the Permian’s Midland Basin produce gas with unusually high nitrogen content, and those same counties have been the Midland’s fastest-growing production area the past few years. Second, there’s the LNG angle. LNG is by far the fastest-growing demand sector for U.S. gas. LNG terminals here in the U.S. and buyers of U.S. LNG don’t like nitrogen one little bit. As an inert gas (meaning it does not burn), nitrogen lowers the heating value of the LNG and takes up room (lowers the effective capacity) in the terminal’s liquefaction train. Bottom line, nitrogen generally mucks up the process of liquefying, transporting and consuming LNG, which means that nitrogen is a considerably more problematic issue for LNG terminals than for most domestic gas consumers. So as the LNG sector increases as a fraction of total U.S. demand, the nitrogen issue really comes to the fore. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll explore why high nitrogen content in gas is happening now, why it matters and how bad it could get.

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Permalink Reply by Rock Man on September 28, 2023 at 11:48

Operators can set nitrogen rejection units to strip out this item from the gas stream before it goes into the pipeline. Just takes more money and equipment on location.

I don't think that there are any negatives associated with putting stripped out nitrogen directly to the atmosphere.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on September 28, 2023 at 12:14

Any idea why the nitrogen concentrations are increasing in the Midland Basin?

Permalink Reply by Rock Man on September 28, 2023 at 15:58

Has to be tied to where wells are now being drilled. Deeper laterals in different parts of the basin.

Gas will not change over time, i.e., become more nitrogen rich. Has to be new zones with higher N2.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on September 28, 2023 at 16:01

Thanks.  Any idea of the cost required to reduce the nitrogen to pipeline specs?

Permalink Reply by Rock Man on September 29, 2023 at 12:09

Nitrogen rejection units are usually rental items placed on skids on location. Similar to compressors. Or sulfur extraction units for some lower concentration H2S wells.

  • Different size units based on gas volumes.

No idea now on costs - used to use them in the Wilcox gas trend years ago.

Other option is to have nitrogen rejection equipment at processing plants that are taking alll this gas. And have this effort be part of the processing stream along with NGL extraction.

Permalink Reply by Rock Man on September 29, 2023 at 12:11
Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on September 29, 2023 at 12:29

Thanks for the details.

Permalink Reply by William Arnold on October 1, 2023 at 0:42
Does the Haynesville gas have much nitrogen?
Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on October 1, 2023 at 0:48

Not that I have ever heard of, William.  It is possible and maybe even likely that the Haynesville and Bossier have nitrogen but not in concentrations that require it to be treated.  Portions of the Haynesville has concentrations of H2S and CO2 that require treatment but that's not a pervasive problem.

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