Advanced Technologies for Recovering Flared Gas at Petroleum Development Oman South Fields

Oil and gas companies have flared the natural gas associated with oil extraction because of technical, regulatory, or economic constraints. Consequently, it has significantly contributed to climate change due to the high emissions of CO2, black carbon, methane, and other pollutants. According to world bank, approximately 144 billion cubic meters of gas is burned at oil production sites worldwide each year, resulting in over 400 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually.

In 2015, the World Bank launched the Zero Faring Initiative (ZRF), where 34 governments, 53 oil companies, and 15 development institutions committed to ending routine flaring no later than 2030, including Oman and petroleum development Oman. The main purpose of this initiative is to facilitate cooperation between all stakeholders and take the necessary step toward mitigating climate change and unitizing natural resources

In this paper, five approved technologies by the Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GGFR) partnership have been evaluated for recovering the flare from eleven production stations in the south Oman fields. These technologies are (i) gas to power, (ii) gas to liquid, (iii) gas to LNG, (iv) gas to CNG, and (v) gas processing . All technologies were evaluated against different technical, economic, and environmental criteria.