Professional Documents
Culture Documents
From Reservoir To Burner Tip: A Primer On Natural Gas
From Reservoir To Burner Tip: A Primer On Natural Gas
From Reservoir To Burner Tip: A Primer On Natural Gas
N
atural gas is a combustible, gaseous mixture of transition was facilitated in part by federal regulations that
simple hydrocarbon compounds, usually found in discouraged oil field operators from wasting natural gas
deep underground reservoirs of porous and perme- by venting and flaring. An unknown but likely enormous
able rocks. Natural gas is a fossil fuel composed largely of volume of gas resource was lost through such practices.
methane. A molecule of methane, the simplest and light- Nevertheless, natural gas became a marketable commodity,
est hydrocarbon, consists of one carbon atom surrounded and production flourished. In the years following World War
by four hydrogen atoms. Natural gas also contains lesser II, the interstate pipeline system, which was begun in 1925,
amounts of “higher” hydrocarbon gases, that is, those of was greatly expanded, thereby bringing natural gas service
greater molecular weight, namely ethane, propane, butane, to consumers all over the Lower 48 United States.
isobutane and pentane (together commonly referred to as
C2+), as well as variable concentrations of nonhydrocarbon According to statistical data from the U.S. Department of
gases, namely carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) for
and helium (see sidebar, Composition of Natural Gas). 2008, natural gas satisfied 24 percent of the nation’s en-
Natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel, producing ergy demand (consumption), moving ahead of coal, which
smaller amounts of combustion by-products than either coal remained steady at 22.6 percent. Crude oil and natural gas
or refined oil products. liquids, while still accounting for the largest share, declined
from a recent high of 40 percent (2004–06) to 37.4 percent.
Nuclear power rose slightly to 8.5 percent, and hydropower
and renewables totaled 7.4 percent.71
Why Is Natural Gas
Important? Composition of Natural Gas
Natural gas has become the “fuel of choice” in many resi- Chemical Typical
dential, commercial and industrial applications. Furthermore, Formula Composition
natural gas has become particularly important in electric
Hydrocarbon gases
power generation. The natural gas you conveniently consume
Methane CH4 80–95%
in your home or business is the end result of an entire industry
Ethane C2H6 2.5–7%
working together to find, produce and deliver a safe, clean
Propane C3H8 1–3%
and reliable energy resource.
Butane C4H10 1–3%
Pentane C5H12 trace
The first practical use of natural gas in the United States
Hexane C6H14 trace
dates from 1821 in Fredonia, New York, where a crudely
drilled well and hollowed-out log pipes were used to deliver
Nonhydrocarbon gases
gas from a natural seep to nearby homes for lighting.70 Not
Carbon dioxide CO2 1–2%
until the 1880s, however, did natural gas for home heating
Nitrogen N (or N2) 1–4%
and lighting and for industrial use become prevalent. By
Hydrogen sulfide H2 S variable
the late 1940s natural gas had all but replaced the use of
Water vapor H2 O variable
“illuminating” gas manufactured from coal and wood. The
Helium He trace
Dr. John B. Curtis 70. Peebles, M.W.H., 1980, Evolution of the Gas Industry: New York, New
Director, Potential Gas Agency, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, York University Press, 235 p.
Colorado. 71. Energy Information Administration Office of Energy Markets and End
Use, 2009, Annual Energy Review 2008: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Energy
Stephen D. Schwochow Information Administration, Rept. DOE/EIA-0384(2008), June, 407 p.
Geological Consultant/Editor, Golden, Colorado. Available online at http://www.eia.doe.gov/aer.
Potential Supply of Natural Gas—2008 ©2010 Potential Gas Committee Natural Gas Primer • 193
Where does our natural gas come from? First, consider that The flow chart in Figure 256 provides convenient reference
well over one-half of all the crude oil Americans consume points for the following discussion of the journey of natural
annually must be imported—from more than 35 coun- gas from the reservoir to the burner tip.
tries—and 65 percent of those imports come from OPEC
and Persian Gulf states. Canada, however, remains our
largest single source of imported oil. In contrast, about 85
percent of all natural gas consumed in the U.S. comes from
How Natural Gas Forms
domestic onshore and offshore sources—20 trillion cubic
According to prevailing scientific theory, the natural gas that
feet (Tcf) out of 23 Tcf consumed in 2007 and 21.5 Tcf out
is produced commercially today formed millions of years
of 23.2 Tcf consumed in 2008. The remainder is imported
ago when very small plant and animal remains were buried
from Canada via pipelines (3.30 Tcf in 2007 and 2.98 Tcf in
by mud and silt at the bottoms of oceans and lakes. Layers
2008, net after exports) and from six to eight other foreign
of sediment and plant and animal matter that slowly built
countries via ocean-going tankers carrying liquefied natural
up became deeply buried over time until the pressure and
gas, or LNG (a record 771 billion cubic feet, Bcf, in 2007
heat resulting from the weight of the overlying sediment
and 352 Bcf in 2008).71
eventually converted this organic matter into natural gas
and crude oil. Bacteria also are intimately involved in this
Four interdependent segments of the natural gas industry
generation process, which continues to this day in modern
are involved in delivering natural gas from the wellhead to
swamps, peat bogs, wetlands and lakes, large river deltas
consumers. Exploration and production (“E&P”) compa-
and in some deep ocean basins. Through time, underground
nies explore, drill and extract natural gas from the ground.
forces cause the buoyant hydrocarbons to move slowly, or
Gathering and processing (“midstream”) companies connect
migrate, out of their source rocks and into porous and per-
the wellheads to transmission companies, which operate the
meable reservoir rocks, where they accumulate and become
pipelines linking the gas fields to major consuming areas.
trapped if impermeable seals are present. Within a given basin
Distribution companies are the local utilities that deliver
or region, these four essential components—source rocks,
natural gas to customers. Marketing companies serve as
reservoirs, trapping mechanisms and seal rocks—comprise
intermediaries between production companies and ultimate
what geologists call a petroleum system, which may contain
customers.
oil alone, gas alone or oil and gas together.
Figure 256. The journey of natural gas from reservoir to burner tip. Used by permission of Cycla Corporation.
Hudson Bay
Alberta Hub
Intra-Alberta Center
Gulf of
Crossfield Alberta Market Center S t . L a w re n ce
AECO-C Empress
Pacific
Sumas
Kingsgate TransCanada (Sable Is.)
Canaport
ROCKY
0m
100
Stanfield
MOUNTAIN
0m
20
GTNW
Northeast
Dawn Everett
Opal
CENTRAL
Ruby Chicago Dominion
Cheyenne ANR Joliet
Golden Gate
Rock
ies Ex
PACIFIC White River press
(REX
Cove
) Point
Atlantic Ocean
California
1000 m
Energy Mid-Continent
200 m
Blanco
ATLANTIC
Ocean
m
Perryville
0
20
Elba Island Natural gas storage site:
Carthage Depleted oil/gas reservoir
RUSS. Arctic Ocean Egan
Moss Bluff Henry Hub Aquifer
0m
Waha (Lone Star)
Salt cavern
100
Katy
Waha (DEFS) 20
Nautilus 0m
Natural Gas Primer • 199
Gulf of Mexico
ALASKA 0 400 km
2 00
m
Figure 257. Major natural gas pipelines of the United States, Canada and northern Mexico, showing natural gas storage sites,
market centers and LNG terminals. Smaller pipelines and intrastate networks have been omitted for clarity.
gas. The remaining distributors are privately owned (and demand and prices due to the recession and to moderated
state-regulated) or operated as nonprofit cooperatives. temperatures in some areas, working-gas volumes reached
an historical high of 3,565 Bcf.
Storage
Periodically, a transporter or storage operator may hold an
Some of the natural gas transported through the interstate open season, a period of time, usually several weeks, during
pipeline network is routinely diverted and temporarily which existing and prospective customers and marketers may
placed in pressurized underground storage fields. These bid, on an equal and often nonbinding basis, for a specified
facilities are designed to deliver gas on short notice (daily amount of available or planned transport and/or storage
and even hourly) to meet surges in consumer demand, such capacity and other services.
as for heating and power-generation requirements during
extremely cold weather, and to offset unexpected curtail- Commerce
ments in production or delivery due to pipeline accidents,
hurricanes and other severe weather events. Thus they help Where a number of large pipelines interconnect to facilitate
avoid price spikes. Just as importantly, storage sites help access to multiple regions of supply is termed a market
balance or equalize the volumes of gas normally contracted center or hub. Located at strategic points on the pipeline
to be withdrawn from a pipeline system with the volumes grid (Figure 257), market centers offer a variety of essen-
injected. Active storage sites currently number about 400 in tial transportation and administrative services to shippers,
thirty states (see Figure 257) and include depleted reservoirs purchasers and marketers, not only storage and compression
in oil and gas fields (326), aquifers (43) and man-made salt but also short-term receipt/delivery balancing, volume ag-
caverns and salt mines (31).81, 82 Gas-storage sites are owned gregation and title transfer.84
and operated by pipeline companies, LDCs and independent
storage developers. Hub configurations vary—some are associated with one
pipeline system while others operate through shorter bidirec-
The total volume of gas in a given storage field consists of tional (flowing both directions) header systems connected to
two components—a larger, relatively permanent volume other pipelines or to storage sites and gas processing plants.
of base gas, which is needed to maintain adequate pressure
and deliverability rates, and a smaller cushion of working The Henry Hub in southern Louisiana is the designated
gas that can be withdrawn quickly during times of high delivery point for natural gas futures contracts, which are
demand and later replenished by injection during times of traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Accordingly,
normal demand, a routine practice known as cycling. Stor- Henry Hub is the market center to which gas prices at other
age inventories typically are rebuilt following the winter hubs are compared daily. How much the short-term cash
heating season (November 1 to March 31). Individual sites or spot price for gas (in $/Mcf or $/MMBtu) varies with
store between 1 Bcf and 50 Bcf of working gas, which can respect to the Henry Hub futures price is referred to as the
be withdrawn presently at rates up to 1.2 Bcfd. basis differential. In gas-supply regions that may have less
outbound transport capacity or access to fewer markets, the
As a result of expansions and new construction, total differential can, in effect, be a relative price disadvantage
demonstrated peak working-gas capacity rose in 2008 and under which producers, transporters and marketers must
early 2009 to 3,889 Bcf.83 The total volume of working make decisions regarding sales, trades and other business.
gas available at any given time, in relation to historical
maxima and the running five-year average tracked by the The Integrated Delivery System
EIA, strongly influences the price of natural gas that is set
in futures contracts traded on the commodity market. With In total then, 468,000 producing gas wells, 500 gas-process-
the higher output of natural gas in 2008, together with lower ing plants, 210 gas pipeline systems consisting of 300,000
miles of interstate and intrastate transmission pipelines, more
than 1 million miles of gas-gathering lines, 1,400 compressor
81. Tobin, James, 2006, U.S. underground natural gas storage develop- stations, 400 storage sites, 50 import/export border pipeline
ments—1998–2005: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Energy Information Administra-
tion, Office of Oil and Gas, October, 16 p.
interconnections, eight LNG import and regasification
82. These are separate from the approximately 100 aboveground facilities terminals (including two offshore), 28 market centers and
that store relatively small volumes (<1 Bcf) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) more than 1,300 local distribution companies comprise the
for local distribution. Many of these are located in nonproducing regions, vast, complex physical infrastructure that provides natural
such as New England, the Atlantic Seaboard and the southeastern states, gas service to consumers in all fifty states.
where underground storage is infeasible.
83. LaRose, Angelina, 2009, Estimates of peak underground working gas
storage capacity in the United States, 2009 update: U.S. Dept. of Energy, This completes the complex process “from reservoir to
Energy Information Administration, Office of Oil and Gas, August, 5 p. burner tip.”
6 6 6
42.6 41.0
4 4 33.3 4
36.5
EIA’s latest projections for energy demand over the next
How
2
Natural Gas is Used
2 two decades85 indicate 2 that natural gas consumption (on an
equivalent Btu basis [see sidebar, Consumer Gas Facts]) will
Natural
0
gas finds many Coal important uses Coal among the nation’sCoal
0
Coal
rise in all four consumer
0 sectors, as illustrated in Figure 258.
four principal
Presentenergy
(2007) consumer Forecast sectors—residential,
(2030) Presentcom-
(2007) Forecast (2030) Present (2007) Forecast (2030)
The average rate of annual growth in gas demand from 2007
mercial, industrial and transportation—and in 50electric power
Quads
to 2030 (+0.3 percent),
Quads
25 however, is forecasted to be less than
generation.Natural
Accordinggas1 to data from EIA, in 2008, D.92 percent
Total
other energy sources, E.namely
Four Sectors (R+C+I+T)
electricity in the residential
Power Gen
of the 23.2Liquid
Tcf fuels and other
of natural gaspetroleum
2
consumed in the U.S. was
40 and commercial sectors,
20 and coal, biofuels and renewables
delivered Coal 3
to these consumers as follows:71 in the industrial sector. Consequently, although the volumes
Electricity
of gas consumed will increase, the proportional share of
EI Electricity imports (powergen only) 30
Volume Proportion 15
Consumer Nuclear
Sector (Bcf) of Total natural gas in the overall energy mix by 2030 (Figure 258D)
20
is forecasted to decline
10
slightly. These projections change
Renewables
Residential.
4
................................... 4,866.................22.5
20.9%
22.1
from year to year, however.17.4 14.8
Commercial.Biofuels heat and coproducts3,122................. 13.4%
.................................
10 5
Industrial...................................... 6,652................. 28.6%
42.6 Percentage share of natural gas in
Electric Power. .............................
total energy mix 6,661................. 28.7% 84. Tobin, James, 2009, Natural gas market centers—A 2008 update: U.S.
EI EI
0 of Energy, Energy0 Information
Transportation (vehicle use).............. 30................... 0.1%
Present (2007)
Dept.
Forecast (2030)
Administration,
Present (2007)
Office of Oil and
Forecast (2030)
Gas, April, 14 p.
Total Deliveries..................... 21,331................. 91.8%
1. Includes industrial sector natural gas for lease and plant fuel. 85. Conti, J.J., and others, compilers, 2009, Annual Energy Outlook 2009,
2. Includes LPG, motor gasoline and ethanol blends, kerosene, distillate and residual fuel withoils, petroleum to 2030: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Energy Information Ad-
Projections
Lease and plant fuel, pipeline
feedstock (industrial), jet fuel and miscellaneous petroleum and petroleum-derived products.
ministration,
3. Includes industrial sector metallurgical coal, CTL heat and power, and minor coal-coke imports. Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting, Rept. DOE/
and distribution use......................
4. Primarily hydroelectric 1,913.
for power generation. ..................
For 8.2%
all sectors in 2007: hydroelectric EIA-0383(2009),
(36.8%), biomass March, 221 p. Available online at http://www.eia.doe.
and biofuels (48.7%), geothermal (4.6%), municipal waste (4.9%), wind (4.8%), solar (0.15%).
Total Consumption............... 23,243............... 100.0% gov/oiaf/aeo/.
6 6 6
42.6 41.0
4 4 33.3 4
36.5
2 2 2
Nuclear
Renewables4 20 22.1 10
22.5
17.4 14.8
Biofuels heat and coproducts
10 5
42.6 Percentage share of natural gas in
total energy mix 0 0
EI EI
Present (2007) Forecast (2030) Present (2007) Forecast (2030)
1. Includes
1. Includesindustrial sectornatural
industrial sector natural
gasgas
for for
leaselease and plant
and plant fuel. fuel.
2. Includes
2. IncludesLPG,
LPG,motor
motor gasoline
gasoline andandethanol
ethanol blends,
blends, kerosene,
kerosene, distillate
distillate and residual
and residual fuel
fuel oils, oils, petroleum feedstock
petroleum
feedstock (industrial),
(industrial), jet fuel
jet fuel and and miscellaneous
miscellaneous petroleum
petroleum andand petroleum-derived products.
petroleum-derived products.
3. Includes industrial sector metallurgical coal, CTL heat and power, and minor coal-coke imports.
3. Includes industrial
4. Primarily sector
hydroelectric for metallurgical coal,
power generation. ForCTL heat in
all sectors and power,
2007: and minor
hydroelectric coal-coke
(36.8%), biomassimports.
4. Primarily hydroelectric
and biofuels for power
(48.7%), geothermal generation.
(4.6%), municipalFor
wasteall(4.9%),
sectors in (4.8%),
wind 2007: solar
hydroelectric
(0.15%). (36.8%), biomass and
biofuels (48.7%), geothermal (4.6%), municipal waste (4.9%), wind (4.8%), solar (0.2%).
Figure 258. The role of natural gas in meeting domestic energy demand, by primary consumer sector, a comparison of the mix of
principal energy supplies (in quads) for 2007 with that forecasted at 2030. A. Residential. B. Commercial. C. Industrial. D. Total of
four sectors (residential, commercial, industrial, transportation). E. Power generation. Data from EIA Annual Energy Outlook 2009.
Industry is the largest gas-consuming sector because of the Of the total new generation capacity added between 1999
inherent energy-intensive nature of many heavy manufactur- and 2002, 96 percent was natural gas fired. In its projection
ing and processing operations and the fact that natural gas to 2030,85 EIA forecasts that natural gas plants will account
is the essential feedstock for so much of our vital chemical for more than one-half (53 percent) of all new generation
production, especially ammonia fertilizer for agriculture. capacity additions—137 gigawatts (GW, or 1,000 MW) out
Indeed, natural gas for bulk chemicals production accounted of 259 GW net after retirement of older power plants.
for 27 percent of industrial gas consumption in 2005.87
Another 60 percent was consumed for oil refining, min- Utilities and IPPs base their decisions regarding the choice
ing, food, paper and steel manufacturing, construction and of fuel for future capacity additions on such factors as
metals fabrication. Other important uses include glass and electricity demand growth; the need to replace inefficient
plastics manufacturing, aluminum smelting, pulp processing plants; capital, variable and transmission costs; operating
and paper manufacturing, agriculture and fuel for ethanol efficiencies; fuel prices; emissions constraints; and availabil-
distillation. In addition to its use for boiler fuel and process ity of federal tax credits for certain technologies. Compared
heat in these industries, natural gas finds application in waste to coal, nuclear and wind, natural gas-fired plants have sub-
treatment and incineration, drying and dehumidification, stantially lower capital costs but considerably higher variable
heating and cooling, and industrial power cogeneration, costs, fuel expenditures in particular, which constitute the
including standby generation capacity. Because of federal largest component (~75 percent) of total plant costs. Thus,
clean-air regulations, natural gas applications that reduce while coal, nuclear and wind plants are highly sensitive to
nitrous and sulfurous oxide emissions have very strong construction costs, which are escalating over the near term,
potential in the industrial market. gas plant costs are more sensitive to natural gas prices, which
are tied closely to oil prices and to domestic gas production
On an average $/MMBtu basis, the price of natural gas used levels, which are now rising.
by 205,000 industrial consumers in 2007 was less expensive
($7.52) than electricity ($18.63) and all other major fuels In its last two projections, EIA has scaled back its growth
($10.49–$23.38) except coal ($3.61).85 forecast for natural gas consumption in power generation.
EIA now projects a +3 percent average annual growth rate
for gas consumption from 2007 (7.06 quadrillion Btu, or
Power Generation “quads”) to 2025 (7.59 quads) but only a 0.3 percent overall
increase by 2030 (7.12 quads). Although the volume of gas
Through the 1990s, natural gas had become the preferred fuel consumed annually will increase, its share of total end-use
for generating electricity at “peaker” plants, power plants generation capacity (kWh) is projected to decline mostly in
that are smaller in capacity than the utilities’ base-load plants deference to renewables, as shown in Figure 258E.85 Again,
(typically coal, nuclear and hydro). Peakers can be brought however, EIA’s projections change from year to year.
on line at full capacity quickly to help meet peak electric-
ity demands as well as to satisfy normal demands during Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Generation
scheduled and unscheduled shutdowns at base-load plants. CHP generation includes two high-efficiency technologies for
Because of ever-increasing demands on base-load stations, producing electricity—natural gas combined-cycle systems
many peakers now run longer than just during peak hours. and cogeneration turbine systems. Both systems capture and
Most peakers are operated by independent power producers reuse waste heat that normally is lost. A combined-cycle plant
(IPPs). In addition, because of its high reliability, natural gas uses waste heat from gas combustion (in a gas turbine or a
is becoming important as a backup fuel for alternative and battery of gas engines) to produce additional electricity by
renewable energy projects. heating water to make steam (to drive a steam turbine). A
cogeneration system, on the other hand, uses the captured
Natural gas has accounted for a steadily increasing share thermal energy to generate additional electricity, provide
of total net electricity generated (in kilowatt-hours, kWh) space heating or fulfill other energy needs of a building,
factory, park or campus. In most electric power plants, the
87. Energy Information Administration, 2007, Annual Energy Outlook
2007, with Projections to 2030: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Energy Information
waste heat from fuel combustion is lost, resulting in substan-
Administration, Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting, Rept. DOE/ tially lower operating efficiencies. Combined-cycle systems
EIA–0383 (2007), February, 229 p. account for nearly 80 percent of installed CHP capacity.
Many commercial and industrial facilities can take advantage Natural gas is especially well suited for the nation’s 11.5
of natural gas cogen systems because of their highly vari- million government and corporate fleet vehicles, many of
able requirements for heat and electricity. Cogen systems which return to a central location each night for refueling.
are available in sizes from as small as 2.2 kilowatts to as According to NGVAmerica, although more than 60 percent
large as several hundred megawatts. Natural gas-fueled of CNG vehicles presently are classified as light-duty, CNG
cogeneration is being successfully applied in the pulp and applications more and more are directed toward medium- and
paper, pharmaceutical, food processing, textile, oil refining, heavy-duty vehicles, such as transit buses, school buses, utility
fertilizer and other petrochemical industries, as well as in vehicles, sanitation trucks and off-road industrial and avia-
hospitals, universities, hotels, computer centers and other tion vehicles, which typically have high fuel-consumption
commercial facilities. rates and, like fleets, can take advantage of centrally located
refueling docks.89
Electricity generation and thermal output (Btu basis) from
CHP systems have in recent years declined in the powergen Compared to the rest of the world, where about five million
sector as well as in the commercial and industrial sectors, NGVs operate, expanded use of NGVs in America has been
the latter two reflecting overall declines both in consumption constrained in large part by the limited, but growing, number
of combustible fuels for powergen and in total electricity of refueling stations, which number about 1,100 but only
output. EIA forecasts that CHP electricity output will con- about one-half of which currently sell to the public. However,
tinue to decline, by 0.9 percent annually, to 2030 and that with the availability now of home refueling units, which also
consumption of natural gas, while still fueling 75 percent qualify for federal and some state tax credits, a resurgence
of total CHP generation, will decline 0.7 percent annually.85 in car and light-duty NGV demand may be forthcoming.
2. Domestic—Accelerated
5 infill drilling. In the early 1980s,5 5 5
gas deliverability increased as a result of extensive new
drilling in known fields, that is, adding new wells to enhance
overall
0
recovery of available gas. This is accomplished in two0 0 0
ways.1975
First, development
1980 1985 wells can be
1990 added2000
1995 to the undevel-
2005 2008 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2008
oped area of a known field at a well spacing (in acres) that a
B. Net US Gas Imports (Bcf) B. Net US Gas Imports (Bcf)
state
4500oil and gas commission may authorize for a particular 4500
producing pool. Standard well-spacing units typically are
804000
acres, 160 acres or 320 acres (0.5 mi2), that is, one well 4000
LNG (all countries) LNG (all countries)
is 3500
permitted to be drilled on 80, 160 or 320 acres. Second, 3500
under certain circumstances, an operator may petition the
commission
3000 for downspacing, an exemption to drill wells at 3000
2.3% 2.3%
a density greater than that permitted at the standardannual spacing annual
2500 2500
unit, such as four wells on a 160-acre unit, resulting in an
decline decline
peak? peak?
effective
2000 well spacing of 40 acres. Exemptions have been 2000
granted for 20 acres and even 10 acres. Spacing exemptions
can1500
be justified when geologic conditions of the producing 1500
reservoir are such that wells at the standard spacing are situ-
Canada (pipeline, net) Canada (pipeline, net)
1000 1000
ated too far apart to optimally drain the maximum volume
of available
500 gas or oil. For example, sandstone reservoirs 500
may exhibit extremely low permeabilities and/or complex
0 0
geometries that inhibit the flow of gas, or an area may be so
Mexico (pipeline, net) Mexico (pipeline, net)
complexly
-500 faulted that the reservoirs have become “com- -500
partmentalized”
1975 1980and lack
1985 the hydrodynamic
1990 1995 communication
2000 2005 2008 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2008
with one another that could otherwise facilitate production Figure 259. A. U.S. dry-gas production and consumption,
at a standard well spacing. Many natural gas fields have 1975–2008, showing proportion of consumption attributable
potential for accelerated infill drilling to increase production to imports. B. U.S. net imports of natural gas, 1975–2008. Data
from EIA Annual Energy Review 2008.
capability. However, infilling or downspacing in certain areas,
while boosting field output locally, may not offset the overall contract with Canadian producers and marketers to import
natural decline in productivity that commonly characterizes substantial volumes of Canadian gas, principally from the
a mature producing basin. Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin of Alberta, British
Columbia and Saskatchewan (Figure 257) but also from
3. Imports—Canadian pipeline gas. Importing natural gas maritime Canada (offshore Nova Scotia). Net imports in
via pipelines is the principal means by which the U.S. 2007 totaled approximately 3,300 Bcf, or 9 Bcfd, which
meets the shortfall each year between domestic produc- is about the average volume imported annually since 1999
tion and domestic consumption, which has widened since (Figure 259B).71 Net imports for 2008 dropped noticeably,
the late 1980s, as shown in Figure 259A. U.S. companies to 2,982 Bcf (8.2 Bcfd), partly the results of lower Canadian
output and higher U.S. production.
91. Energy Information Administration, 2009, U.S. crude oil, natural gas, and
natural gas liquids reserves—2008: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Energy Informa-
tion Administration, Office of Oil and Gas, Rept. DOE/EIA–0216(2007), The statistics and production trends in Canada suggest that
October, unpaginated text, 23 figs., 13 tables. we cannot assume reliability of imports at the recent average