Follow-Up On ND "Hot Gas" And The Northern Border Pipeline -- September 5, 2020

This is in response to the story posted earlier today regarding "hot gas" and the Northern Border Pipeline.

A reader wrote that he/she had a I have a very dear friend from college. He managed gas plants throughout the OK/TX panhandle. His dad did the same in TX, NM and AZ. I've been lucky enough to have them each walk me through a plant, drive me through the country they were gathering, etc. I asked him for Cliff Notes on our "too hot" gas. This is the reply from that individual with extensive experience with this issue:

It is not uncommon to have some 1200 BTU gas in a field, depends on zone, depth, area, etc. 

It sounds like they need more gas processing in North Dakota. 

The regulation is dumb to me because the gas can be processed downstream.

Normally pipelines are NOT the end user, they are only the transporter and someone else can pull the BTU out of the gas.

Also it is important to gas processing plants to be able to leave the ethane in the gas if the market is paying more for the ethane in the gas rather than in the liquids stripped out of the gas.

All gas processing plants are designed to run in ethane rejection (leave the ethane in the gas rather than remove it with the propane, butane, pentane, etc. ) if the markets pays better for ethane in the gas rather than in the liquids removed. 

Every plant I ever worked in or managed was capable of ethane rejection even if not originally designed for it. Just warm up the tower temps and the ethane goes out the top with the methane rather than out the bottom with butane, propane, pentane, etc. 

If designed for it then they can do it more efficiently. 

It does sound like the ND gas is pretty hot overall. I saw / toured one plant in the Denver area years ago that BP ran and they sold to the pipeline that provided Denver. In order to cut the btu they actually injected air into the pipeline. It sounded insane to me because we spent a lot of time making sure we did not get air into our pipelines, we operated some lines at below atmospheric pressure so any leak pulled air into the system, and air can cause explosions, but at the Denver site they actually injected air into the system. Probably was no added compression on the system after the air injection. Air and compression don't mix well.

This was my reply, noting that is way above my pay grade, and far ahead of my headlights, to mix metaphors:

Two immediate thoughts come to mind: 

Political: someone is trying to keep ND gas out of the Northern Border Pipeline so the Canadians can ship more of their own gas; or, more likely, it's a matter of who pays: 

Financial: either the operators in ND pay to "dilute" their "hot gas" before it goes into the pipeline, or the end user (in Illinois, or wherever) pays for the process of doing that (sounds minimal). 

Regardless: it sounds like a manageable problem, and maybe this will spur ND to put in more natural gas processing plants.

Wow, this takes me to the early days of the Bakken: ethane rejection. I had forgotten all about it. I have a lot of problems with tags (bottom of page) but in this case, I'm glad I had an "ethane rejection" tag. 

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The Original Post

This was the original post:

From Geoff Simon's top stories of the week:

A tariff pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may place limits on the heat content of natural gas in the Northern Border Pipeline.

Justin Kringstad, director of the ND Pipeline Authority, told members of the ND Industrial Commission this week that the tariff would allow Northern Border to reject any gas that exceeds 1,100 BTU per cubic foot.

That could be a problem for North Dakota producers because natural gas produced in North Dakota is rich in ethane and other natural gas liquids.

Kringstad said the gas must be processed to remove those NGLs to reduce its heat content to the 1,100 BTU level.

North Dakota gas now makes up about 80 percent of the total moving through the Northern Border Pipeline, and "signs are pointing toward North Dakota being almost the exclusive shipper in the next three to six years," Kringstad said. He said achieving the 1,100 BTU threshold would require the removal of additional 80,000 bbl/day of ethane by the year 2027.

Industry sources say the ideal heat content for natural gas is between 950 and 1,100 BTU/cubic foot. Gas that burns hotter can damage appliances and other equipment that burn it. Kringstad said Northern Border interconnects with several downstream pipelines that limit heat content to 1,100 BTU or less.

"The downstream folks are concerned that North Dakota's gas is getting too hot," Kringstad said. "The marketability and safety issues downstream are what's driving pressure on Northern Border to implement the tariff change."

North Dakota may have a little time to adapt if FERC approves the new tariff. Kringstad said the change would not be immediate because the tariff would be phased in, starting at 1,155, stepping down to 1,140 and eventually down to 1,100. He said the near-term solution is balancing the hotter gas going into the pipeline with dryer gas that has had most of its liquids removed. Kringstad said one other possibility he's exploring that could provide opportunity to electric generators is injecting hydrogen gas in the pipeline.

Fascinating story on so many levels.