Course Book of

Natural Gas Engineering

Petroleum Engineering Department

Faculty of Engineering
Koya University

By

Dr. Mohammed H. S. Zangana

2020-2021

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CONTENT ……………………………………………………… 2

1. Course Coordinator and List of Lecturers on this Course..................... 3

2. Course Overview......................................................................................... 4

3. Course Objectives....................................................................................... 4

4. Course Reading List.................................................................................... 5

5. Syllabus…………………………………………………………………… 6

6. Topics Covered............................................................................................ 7

7. Sample of Questions ……………………………………………………... 14

8. Answers ………………………………………………………………….. 16

9. Student Feed Back ………………………………………………………….. 23

2
 Course Coordinator and List of Lecturers on this Course

Course Name: Natural Gas Engineering (Theory and Tutorial)

Lecturer: Dr. Mohammed H.S. Zangana
Department: Petroleum Engineering
Faculty: Engineering
University: Koya
Email: mohammed.zangana@koyauniversity.org

Course coordinator:
Department: Petroleum Engineering
Faculty: Engineering
University: Koya
Email:

Faculty: Engineering (FENG)

Department: Petroleum Engineering
Course Title: Natural Gas Engineering
Course Code: NGE5430
Lecturer’s Name: Dr. Mohammed H. S. Zangana
Course Peer Reviewer Name:
Peer Reviewer Statement:

3
 Course Overview

Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases with some impurities, mainly nitrogen
(N2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and carbon dioxide (CO2). The hydrocarbon gases are
methane, ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes, and small amounts of hexanes, heptanes,
and some heavier fractions. Methane is the main component of natural gas; generally, dry
gases can contain methane of 95 to 98%.
Although natural gas has been utilized as a fuel for many years, the large demand for it
has developed after the development of large diameter, high pressure pipelines and
compressors, along with the technology of gas storage in reservoirs, which has played a
key role in increasing both the demand for natural gas and the development of the
technology required to produce and transport it.
In natural gas production, field processing and transportation the petroleum and natural
gas engineers apply the principles of engineering to move the gas from the reservoir to a
pipeline that may be used to transport it to its final destination after the removal of
undesirable components.
This course that is titled "Natural Gas Engineering" is designed for the fourth- year
undergraduate students at petroleum engineering department/ Koya University. The
course covers principles and fundamental aspects of most of the operations involved in
moving natural gas from its initial location in the reservoir to its final destination,
including movement of the gas through the reservoir, the piping system and compressors,
in addition to the information that is essential in the day to day operation of a gas field
including flow measuring and field gas processing.

Course objectives

The subjects to be covered during the natural gas engineering course include; gas
properties, gas reservoir performance, flow in Wells, flow in pipelines, gas compression,
flow Measuring and gas processing. Upon successful completion of this course, students
will:
 Become Familiar with existing methods for calculating reservoir properties and
predicting inflow performance.

 Able to apply the steps involved in selecting gas compressors including power
requirements and number of stages.

 Able to calculate most of the pressure drop terms in the piping system including
the pressure drop in the flow lines, in the surface choke, in the well tubing and in
other restrictions.

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 Become familiar with the most common methods used in the field to measure gas
flow rates including the orifice meter.

 Explore the common field-processing operations and methods of treating natural

gas in plant facilities.

Course reading list

1- Beggs, H.D, (1991), "Gas production operations", published by OGCI.

2- Saeid Mokhatab William Poe, John Mak, (2018), “Handbook of Natural Gas
Transmission and Processing”, 4th edition, Gulf Professional Publishing.

3- Guo, Boyun; Ghalambor, Ali, (2014), "Natural Gas Engineering Handbook",

2nd Edition, Gulf Publishing Company.

4- Lyons William C., (1996), "Standard handbook of petroleum and natural gas
engineering", Gulf Publishing Company.

5- A.H. Younger, (2004), "Natural gas processing principles and technology",

Part I and II.

6- John M. Campbell, (1992), "Gas conditioning and processing", vol. 1 and 2.

7- Paul C. Hanlon, 2001, “Compressor Handbook”, McGraw-Hill.

5
 Syllabus

Week Contents
1 Introduction; Characteristics of Natural Gas, Gas Composition,
Other Sources of Gaseous Fuel, Gas Production Operations.
2,3,4,5 Gas Properties; Ideal Gases, Real Gases, Gas Isothermal
Compressibility, Gas Viscosity, Gas-Water Systems, Gas-Condensate
Systems, Types of Gas Reservoirs, Flash of Equilibrium Separation
Calculations, Determination of Equilibrium Ratios, K-Values from
Equations of State.
6,7,8 Gas Reservoir Performance; Reservoir Gas Flow, Well
Deliverability or Capacity, Transient Testing, Gas Reserves.
9,10,11 Flow in Wells; Basic Flow Equation, Static Bottom-Hole Pressure;
Average Pressure and Temperature Method, Cullender and Smith
Method, Flowing Bottom-Hole Pressure, Annular Flow, Well
Performance.
12,13,14,15 Flow In Pipelines; Pressure drop and Flow capacity, Pipelines in
Series, Pipelines in Parallel,
Pipeline Performance, Gas Flow Through Restrictions, Erosional
Velocity, Predicting Flowing Temperatures.
16,17,18 Gas Compression; Types of Compressors, Compressor Design,
Design Methods, Reciprocating Compressors, Power Requirement ,
Multi-staging, Effect of Clearance, Effect of Specific Heat Ratio,
Centrifugal Compressors
19,20 Total System Analysis; Tubing and Flow-line Size Effect, Separator
Pressure Effect, Compressor Selection, Subsurface Safety valve
Selection, Relating Performance to Time, Analyzing Multi-well
Systems.
21,22,23 Flow Measuring; Orifice Metering,
Temperature-base Factor, Specific-gravity Factor ,Flowing-
temperature Factor ,
Reynolds-number Factor, Expansion Factor, Super compressibility
Factor, Manometer Factor, Metering System Design, Chart-Reading
Accuracy, Conditions Affecting Accuracy, Other Metering Methods.
24,25 Field Operation Problems; Pressure-Cumulative Production Plots,
Hydrate Formation, Sour Gas Production, Corrosion, Safety, Well
Testing
26,27,28 Gas Processing; Field Treatment of Natural Gas, Separators, Gas
Plant Operations, liquid Hydrocarbon Recovery, Gas Dehydration,
Gas Sweetening

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Introduction

Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases with some impurities, mainly nitrogen
(N2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and carbon dioxide (CO2), Gases containing significant
amounts of H2S or CO2 or both are called sour or acid gases. These impurities must be
removed before the gas is used as a fuel.
The hydrocarbon gases are methane, ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes, and small
amounts of hexanes, heptanes, and some heavier fractions. In gas used for fuel, methane
is the largest component, usually 95 to 98%.

The actual composition of a natural gas can vary over wide ranges. Even two gas wells
producing from the same reservoir may have different compositions:

Table 1: Typical Natural Gas Compositions1

1
Beggs, H.D, (1991), "Gas production operations", published by OGCI

7
 Uses of Natural Gas

Figure 1: Total Energy Consumed in the U.S. (1950 -2018), U.S. Energy Information
Administration (eia).

Figure 2: Natural Gas Use by Sector

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 Gas Production Operations

The engineer involved in gas production operations has one principal objective: to move
the gas from some location in an underground reservoir to a pipeline that may be used to
transport it to its final destination.

Gas Production Operations covers essentially all of the operations involved in moving
natural gas from its initial location in the reservoir to its final destination, including
movement of the gas through the reservoir, the piping system, separation facilities and
compressors.

Figure 3: Possible pressure losses in complete system1

1
Beggs, H.D, (1991), "Gas production operations", published by OGCI

9
Gas Properties

The ability to calculate the performance of a gas producing system, including the
reservoir and the piping system, requires knowledge of many gas properties at various
pressures and temperatures. If the natural gas is in contact with liquids, such as
condensate or water, the effect of the liquids on gas properties must be evaluated.
In gas properties the student will be introduced to the following topics: Ideal Gases, Real
Gases, Gas Isothermal Compressibility, Gas Viscosity, Gas-Water Systems, Gas-
Condensate Systems, Types of Gas Reservoirs, Flash of Equilibrium Separation
Calculations, Determination of Equilibrium Ratios, K-Values from Equations of State.

Gas Reservoir Performance

In traveling from its original location in the reservoir to the final point of consumption,
the gas must first travel through the reservoir rock or porous medium. A certain amount
of energy is required to overcome the resistance to flow through the rock, which is
manifested in a pressure decrease in the direction of flow, toward the well. This pressure
drop or decrease depends on the gas flow rate, properties of the reservoir fluids, and
properties of the rock.
The engineer involved in gas production operations must be able to predict not only the
rate at which a well or field will produce, but also how much gas is originally in the
reservoir and how much of it can be recovered economically. This requires the ability to
relate volumes of gas existing in the reservoir to reservoir pressure. Because the flow
capacity of a well depends on the reservoir pressure, both reservoir gas flow and reserve
estimates to be covered in the gas reservoir performance.

Flow in Wells

Several methods are available for calculating static and flowing pressure drop in gas
wells. Necessary equations and methods in flow in wells to be presented as the following:
Basic Flow Equation, Static Bottom-Hole Pressure; Average Pressure and Temperature
Method, Cullender and Smith Method, Flowing Bottom-Hole Pressure, Annular Flow,
Well Performance.

Flow In Pipelines
Natural gas is sometimes transported thousands of miles by pipeline to its final
destination. The total pressure drop in pipe is the sum of the static pressure drop
(elevation head), the momentum pressure drop (acceleration) and the frictional pressure
drop. For most practical cases of gas flow in pipelines, the line can be considered
horizontal and the hydrostatic or elevation component, as well as the acceleration
component, can be dropped from the general equation. Different diameter pipes can be

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connected either in series or parallel. During the flow in pipelines following topics to be
covered:
Pressure drop and Flow capacity, Pipelines in Series, Pipelines in Parallel, Pipeline
Performance, Gas Flow through Restrictions, Erosional Velocity, and Predicting Flowing
Temperatures.

Gas Compression

There are many cases in gas production operations in which the pressure of a gas must be
raised to a higher value:

• As the pressure in a gas reservoir depletes, it will eventually reach a point where it
will no longer overcome all the pressure losses in the system and the pressure of
the line into which the gas is being delivered. It is then necessary to add a
compressor to the system to supplement the reservoir energy.

• Compressors are also used to overcome the losses incurred in the long distance
transportation of natural gas through transmission lines. This may require large
capacity machines operating at essentially constant conditions.

• The reinjection of gas for pressure maintenance or cycling requires compression

of produced gas to a high pressure to move sufficient volumes into the reservoir.

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 Types of compressors1

Flow Measuring

An essential part of any gas production operation is the accurate determination of

volumetric flow rates. Almost all of the design procedures involve the determination of
pressure loss for a particular flow rate. Therefore, unless accurate values for flow rate can
be obtained, one cannot expect a system to perform according to its design. The orifice
meter is the most widely used because of its simplicity, ruggedness and accuracy.
An orifice metering system consists of means for measuring the pressure drop caused by
a change in velocity of the gas as it passes through a restriction placed in the pipe.

1
Beggs, H.D, (1991), "Gas production operations", published by OGCI

12
 Figure 4: Orifice Metering System1

Gas Processing

Field processing is required to remove undesirable components and to separate the well
stream into salable gas and petroleum liquids, recovering the maximum amounts of each
at the lowest possible overall cost. Separation of well-stream gas from free liquids is by
far the most common of all field-processing operations. However, in some cases, the gas
needs to go to a plant facility for further processing. Gas plants and the treatment of
natural gas are very important segments of the gas production operation. The main gas
plant processing includes liquid hydrocarbon recovery, gas dehydration and gas
sweetening.

1
Beggs, H.D, (1991), "Gas production operations", published by OGCI

13
Department: Petroleum Engineering Subject: Natural Gas Eng.
Faculty: Engineering Stage: 4th Year
Koya University Duration: 3 hours
Sample of Questions

Answer All Questions

1. A single acting reciprocating compressor having a piston diameter of 4 in. and a

stroke length of 6 in. is to compress gas from 100 psig and 100'F to 400 psig.
Calculate the flow capacity in scfd if the compressor runs at a speed of 750 rpm.
Other data are:
K=1.3, C = 6%, A= 5%, Z1= 0.97, Z2= 0.94, gas formation volume factor
Bg=0.12 ft3/scf. (20Marks)

2. Calculate the actual brake horsepower required to compress 2 MMscfd of a 0.6

gravity gas from 100 psia and 80°F to 1600 psia. Assume that a two stage
compressor is used, and that the gas is cooled back to 80oF between stages. Other
data are:
k = 1.28, Psc = 14.65, Tsc = 60oF, the gas compressibility factor (Z1) is 0.97 and
0.94 n the first satge and the second stage respectively. (20 Marks)

3. A pipeline is to deliver 320 MMscfd of gas to a downstream pressure of 500

psia. Using the following data, calculate the required upstream pressure.
T= 45oF, gas specific gravity = 0.67, gas viscosity= 0.012 cp (constant),
d = 25.375 inches, L = 100 miles = 528,000 ft, є = 0.0006 in and Z= 0.84 (use
this value through your calculations).
(20 Marks)
4. There are several locations in the gas production system where the gas must
pass through relatively short restrictions; chokes are one of these restrictions.
Using the following data, find the flow rate through the choke for P2 = 2837 kPa:
d = 10 mm, the gas specific gravity = 0.69, k = 1.25, Cd = 0.865, Psc = 101.325
kPa and Tsc = 288.72 oK,
T1 = 333oK, P1 = 3546 kPa, Z1 = 0.93 (20Marks)

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5. A meter run that is equipped with flange taps and a 3.000 inch orifice has an
inside diameter of 6.065 inches. The static pressure, obtained from the
downstream tap, reads 80 psia and the average differential pressure is 49.5 inches
of water. If the pressure and temperature bases are 14.9 psia and 60°F
respectively, and the compressibility factor =0.94, calculate the flow rate in cubic
feet per hour. The gas specific gravity is 0.60 and the flowing temperature is
65°F.
(20 Marks)

Examiner
Dr. Mohammed H.S. Zangana

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Answers

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 ‫فيدباكي قوتابي خو َيندكار بؤ بابةتةكة‬
‫کۆرس‪:‬‬ ‫بةروار‪:‬‬
‫مامۆستا‪ :‬پ‪.‬ی‪.‬د‪.‬محمد حەسيب زەنگەنە‬ ‫‪2021-2020‬‬ ‫سالَي‪:‬‬
‫ناونيشاني بابەت‪Natural Gas Engineering :‬‬
‫تيَبيني زياتر – بةشيَوةيةكي‬ ‫ئاستي بابةت‬ ‫ثرسياري هةلَسةنطاندن‬
‫بابةتيانة‬ ‫‪5-1‬‬
‫ئامانجةكان و ثوختةي ثةيامةكاني بابةتةكة ِروون‬ ‫‪1‬‬
‫وئاشكرا بوون‬
‫ناوةرؤكي بابةتةكة سوودبةخش بوو و ثةيوةندي‬ ‫‪2‬‬
‫كؤرسةكةوة هةبوو‬
‫بة ئامانجي سةرةكي ِ‬
‫ثةراوي بابةتةكة بة ث َيي ث َيويست ئامادة كرابوو‬
‫ِ‬ ‫‪3‬‬
‫مامؤستاكة لة كاتي وانة طوتنةوةدا هةولَي دا‬ ‫‪4‬‬
‫ثرينسيث و ناوةرؤك و خالَة طرنطةكاني بابةتةكة‬
‫شي بكاتةوة‬
‫بة جواني و بة سادةيي َ‬
‫مامؤستا هةولَي دا تةركيزم لةسةر بابةتةكة‬ ‫‪5‬‬
‫النةكةوي‬
‫َ‬
‫مامؤستا لة كاتي خؤيدا هاتة وانةكة و لة كاتي‬ ‫‪6‬‬
‫خؤيدا وانةكةي تةواو كرد‬
‫مامؤستاكة بة نةرمي و بة هيَمني و بة‬ ‫‪7‬‬
‫ِريَزليَنانةوة لة كاتي وانة طوتنةوةدا هةلَسوكةوتي‬
‫دةكرد‬
‫ساليدةكاني بةكار هيَنران ِروون و ئاشكرا و‬ ‫‪8‬‬
‫سةرنج ِراك َيش بوون‬
‫مامؤستا كاتي ثرسيار كردني ه َيشتةوة و هةولَي‬ ‫‪9‬‬
‫دا ثرسيارةكان بة ت َيرو تةسةلي وةآلم بداتةوة‬
‫سةرضاوةكاني خويَندنةوة نويَن و لةطة َل‬ ‫‪10‬‬
‫ناوةرؤكي بابةتةكة دةطونج َين‬
‫كؤي ئاستةكان‬

‫ثيَوةري هةلَسةنطاندني ئاستي ناوةرؤك‬

‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬
‫زؤر باش‬ ‫باش‬ ‫مام ناوةندي‬ ‫خراث‬ ‫زؤر‬
‫خراث‬

‫‪23‬‬