N.Z. changes gas into oil

Press, 10 April 1980, Page 25

N.Z. changes gas into oil

PA ’ Auckland,; New Zealand has started ( to produce more of its own L crude oil through an ingen-! ( ious process at the Kapuni j gas plant. 1, The oil is contained in they “wet” gas and there is ton- 1 : nes of it under the ground in Taranaki. But to get at the 1 oil, known as condensate, 1 meant drawing off the gas i and burning it or waiting for i i • homes and factories to use>< it-—until now. ' Last week, experts aty Shell-BP-Todd Oil Services; began trials with a process!, that will inject gas back into i the ground, after the precious | oil and L.P.G. have been stripped off. j 1 It is a process that is newp to New Zealand and one that p could save the country thou- 1

sands of dollars a day in imported oil. About 3 per cent of New Zealand oil needs could come from the injection system. •The system will also increase the amount of L.P.G., I which is in very short 1 supply. Mr G. Brown, general, manager of Shell-BP-Todd Oil Services, said the trials so far had been successful land would continue for anI other two weeks. I The cost of the compresI spr equipment which injects •the gas into the ground is 'about $5 million. | When the process is working full-time is should deal with six million cubic feet ■of gas a day. The present; ; consumer use is about 30' million cubic feet a day. ] I At its peak it would double j

the crude oil production to 3600 barrels a day. The dry gas would then be used as a "bulldozer” to push the wet gas up out of the ground. The consortium also hopes to use the same technique to boost condensate production from the Maui gas field, but *this would mean drilling more wells and installing extra equipment to put the gas back into the ground. This technique means the much needed oil can be used now and the gas saved for future use. The experts work on a i formula that in every million cubic feet of gas there [are 60 barrels of oil and 10 'barrels of L.P.G. however, [not all of those liquids can be' drawn off; some end up being burnt with the gas at the end of the line.