Kuwait is studying the challenges of developing HPHT Jurassic sour gas fields both from the point of view of rig and rigless operations and is joined by Saudi Arabia in the prospects of intelligent sour field management given their preference for smart field operations. Saudi Aramco is aiming to produce 2.5 billion cf/d of sulphur rich non-associated gas to be processed at Wasit. Additionally they are looking at the potential of sour gas processing from the Kidan field as well as bringing on the offshore Karan Field with the 450 MMcf/d of sour gas expected to yield 67% sales gas.
Iran is also addressing its sour field issues having just announced that the 12th phase of the South Pars when operational in 2012 will produce 84 million cubic meters of sour gas per day.
The Shah project in the UAE is critical for infrastructure development in Abu Dhabi’s Economic Vision 2030 plan and when operational will process well fluids containing 23% H2S and 10% CO2 thus making the project a new benchmark for the world’s gas processing and treating industry. Alongside this project are the future expectations of developing the sour Bab and Hail fields .
So it can be seen there is a high level of activity in sour gas field development in the Middle East but it is by no means limited to this region with ongoing projects in Chuangdongbei, Puguang and Longgang in China; Kashagan Field, Kazakhstan; South Yoloten Field, Turkmenistan and several activities in Russia with major sour processing facilities in Orenburg and Astrakhan, plus other sour field projects worldwide.
Thus the overall scope of SOGAT 2012 will examine all the ongoing international sour field projects as well as the beneficial uses of the sulphur by-products, particularly through the latest research findings in Qatar. Also through its various pre-conference workshops it will examine the most relevant technical aspects in more depth as well as discussing the beneficial use of the associated CO2 in ongoing firsts in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia together with new global initiatives in the 6th International CO2 Forum. |