4 December 2014

Costain expertise in processing carbon dioxide rich gas was the subject of a talk at the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) by Adrian Finn, Process Technology Manager at Costain Natural Resources.

He addressed more than 200 members of the IChemE Special Interest Group for Oil and Natural Gas (known as SONG) at a meeting at IChemE’s London offices and via a live webcast. The group has an international membership drawn from a wide variety of businesses involved in oil and gas production and processing, including onshore and offshore operations. Those viewing the presentation included SONG members as far afield as Australia.

“Earlier in the year we filed a patent application for a process to effectively separate very high levels of carbon dioxide from associated gas,” said Adrian. “Following that announcement I was asked by the IChemE to do a presentation for the members of SONG - a first time for me,” said Adrian.

“The presentation – put together with the help of John O’Brien, a world-leading consultant on carbon dioxide removal from natural gas - was a good opportunity to generate interest in a topic we in Front End Solutions (FES) are currently looking at.”

Efforts to commercialise high carbon dioxide content natural gas have traditionally been unsuccessful due to high processing costs. But process technology developments could make exploitation of carbon dioxide rich gas fields attractive, even if the carbon dioxide has to be sent to underground storage to avoid its emission to atmosphere.

Said Adrian: “This could be used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), where putting the carbon dioxide in the ground could unlock oil reserves and generate considerable revenue. It’s a technique widely used in the US, and there’s also interest in it in the Middle East and Malaysia.

“It’s typical of the gas processing related activity we look to to deliver solutions for our clients’ needs.”

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