Forprosjekt. Liquefaction of Unprocessed Well Stream (LUWS)

IFE has filed an international patent application offering a new method and system for condensation of unprocessed well stream from offshore gas or gas condensate fields when conventional liquefaction technology becomes too expensive. In the present conce pt, well stream is supposed to be unprocessed as opposed to the preprocessed well stream which currently enters into a conventional LNG process. The system offers a new approach for the development of small gas or gas condensate fields that are not econom ically viable with the current state of the art. The principle of the new system is to bring unprocessed well stream into an expander, which can be static, dynamic or both simultaneously, and collect the condensed product, LUWS, in a low to medium pressu rised storage tank for further processing at shore. While conventional technology produces LNG, the proposed method produces LUWS, Liquified Unprocessed Well Stream, which might be a product with different characteristics than LNG, however easy to transp ort to a receiving facility onshore for further processing. The concept which is proposed requires substantial R&D and industrial cooperation before reaching a mature stage. In the pre-project phase which is proposed, IFE is looking for a partnership be tween oil companies, the engineering industry, suppliers of equipment and academia to assess the feasibility of the new concept from a technical, economical and environmental point of view.