Maroun Oil and Gas Production Company has increased its daily collection of associated petroleum gases (APG) by 142,000 cubic meters since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21), managing director of the company said.
“By connecting Well 215 in Maroun 5 Field to the pipeline of the Well 17 in Maroun 3 Field, we were able to collect 142,000 cubic meters of gas, which were previously flared and burnt,” Qobad Naseri was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news service Shana.
“The company now collects 340,000 cubic meters of gas per day to protect the environment and hydrocarbon resources,” he added.
The company has been collecting APG from Maroun Oilfield in Khuzestan Province to reduce harmful emissions through the recovery and utilization of flare gas.
APG is transferred to the production line in Maroun Petrochemical Company.
Maroun is the second-largest oilfield of Iran. Discovered in 1963, the field contains recoverable oil reserves estimated at 22 billion barrels, making it the world's sixth biggest onshore oilfield. It is currently producing approximately 520,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
Flaring is the burning of natural gas that cannot be currently processed or sold. Flaring of APG is an important safety measure at oil and gas production sites, as it prevents industrial plant equipment from over-pressuring and exploding. However, burning high levels of APG is a major source of air pollution.
Iran has the highest rate of energy waste in the form of APG in the Middle East and ranks third in the world after Russia and Nigeria.
Optimizing Consumption
Optimizing energy consumption and reducing environmental pollutants are major concerns in oil and gas industries.
As APG collection is the only known way to curb energy waste and emission of pollutants in the oil and gas industry, an effective mechanism to curtail and eliminate flare is crucial.
The collected gas can be utilized in a number of ways after processing: It can be sold and used in the natural-gas distribution networks, used for on-site electricity generation with engines or turbines, reinjected for secondary recovery and used in enhanced oil recovery, converted from gas-to-liquids for producing synthetic fuels, or used as feedstock in the petrochemical industry.
According to a World Bank report, thousands of gas flares at oil production sites around the world burned approximately 140 billion cubic meters of gas in 2022, emitting more than 300 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
If this amount of gas is used for power generation, it can provide about 750 billion kilowatts per hour of electricity, or more than the African continent’s current annual electricity consumption.
