Zeus Intelligence (zeusintel.com), a service division of Zeus Development Corporation, organized and led an LNG-Fueled Drilling & Fracturing seminar in Houston on June 14. Seminar sponsors were INOXCVA (inoxcva. com) and ABB (abb.com). The all-day event was attended by 74 liquid natural gas (LNG) decision makers representing myriad companies and featured six speakers, with question and answer periods following each presentation.
Bob Nimocks, President of Zeus Development Corporation, moderated the event.
Nimocks’ post seminar comments aptly summarize the seminar: “Two fuel-neutral exploration and production (E&P) industry executives, Brian Lockard, Manager of Environmental Engineering for Noble Energy, and Hugh Giberson, Area Manager for Ensign Energy Services, told the conference that they believe growth in LNG-fueled drilling and fracturing will accelerate. LNG offers compelling cost advantages over conventional diesel operations as well as emissions benefits that may enable compliance with future US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restrictions. LNG also offers advantages over wellhead gas (a.k.a., conditioned gas), pipeline gas, and compressed natural gas (CNG), especially as producers target more oil and condensate-rich gas fields.”
A typical drilling rig consumes 600 to 1,000 diesel gallons per day. There are 2,400 land rigs, which represent a potential daily market of 1.4 million to 2.4 million diesel gallons, or 2.4 million to 4.1 million LNG gallons (1.7 gallons of LNG contain the energy equivalent of 1.0 gallons of diesel). Given the fuel price and the environmental advantages of using LNG over diesel there is an industry wide surge towards using natural gas for drilling and fracturing operations. For drilling, natural gas is used to power engine generators (both 100 percent natural gas spark ignited engines and dual fuel). For fracking, natural gas is currently being introduced on dual engine equipment.
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