The Bridge Gustafson, Thane
2020, 2020-01-07
eBook
A Marginal Revolution Best Book of the Year Winner of the Shulman Book Prize A noted expert on Russian energy argues that despite Europe's geopolitical rivalries, natural gas and deals based on it ...unite Europe's nations in mutual self-interest. Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet empire, the West faces a new era of East–West tensions. Any vision of a modern Russia integrated into the world economy and aligned in peaceful partnership with a reunited Europe has abruptly vanished.Two opposing narratives vie to explain the strategic future of Europe, one geopolitical and one economic, and both center on the same resource: natural gas. In The Bridge, Thane Gustafson, an expert on Russian oil and gas, argues that the political rivalries that capture the lion's share of media attention must be viewed alongside multiple business interests and differences in economic ideologies. With a dense network of pipelines linking Europe and Russia, natural gas serves as a bridge that unites the region through common interests.Tracking the economic and political role of natural gas through several countries—Russia and Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway— The Bridge details both its history and its likely future. As Gustafson suggests, there are reasons for optimism, but whether the "gas bridge" can ultimately survive mounting geopolitical tensions and environmental challenges remains to be seen.
For many years, the trend of increasing energy demand has been visible. Despite the search for alternative energy sources, it is estimated that oil and natural gas will be the main source of energy ...in transport for the next several dozen years. However, the reserves of renewable raw materials are limited in volume. Along with the degree of depletion, oil recovery becomes more and more difficult, even though the deposits are not yet completely empty. Therefore, it is essential to find new methods to increase oil and gas recovery. Actions aimed at intensifying oil recovery are very rational use of energy that has not yet been fully used. Usually, an increase in oil recovery can be achieved by using extraction intensification methods. However, measures to increase oil recovery can be implemented and carried out at any stage of the borehole implementation. Starting from the well design stage, through drilling and ending with the exploitation of oil and gas. Therefore, in order to further disseminate technologies and methods related to increasing oil recovery, a special edition has been developed, entitled "Fundamentals of Enhanced Oil Recovery". This Special Issue mainly covers original research and studies on the above-mentioned topics, including, but not limited to, improving the efficiency of oil recovery, improving the correct selection of drilling fluids, secondary methods of intensifying production and appropriate energy management in the oil industry.
The first volume of Independent
Evaluation Group (IEG) series (IEG 2009) examined World Bank
experience with the promotion of the most important win-win
(no regrets) energy policies, policies that ...combine domestic
gains with global greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. These
included energy pricing reform and policies to promote
energy efficiency. This second phase covers the entire World
Bank Group (WBG), including the International Finance
Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee
Agency (MIGA). It assesses of interventions, from technical
assistance to financing to regulatory reform. This
project-eye view of activities pertains to all the action
areas of the Strategic Framework on Development and Climate
Change (SFDCC). The third phase will look at the challenge
of adaptation to climate change. The WBG's resources,
human and financial, are small compared to the task at hand.
The International Energy Agency estimates that developing
and transition countries need $16 trillion of energy sector
investments over 2008-30 under 'business as usual'
operations, plus an additional $5 trillion to shift to an
ambitiously low-carbon path. Much more is needed for
sustainable land and forest management and for urban
transport. So a prime focus of this evaluation is how the
WBG can get the most leverage, the widest positive impact on
both development and climate change mitigation, from its
limited resources.
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•Reuse flowback water for hydraulic fracturing reduces the blue water footprint of shale gas development.•Reuse of flowback water for hydraulic fracturing could reduce the shale gas ...production.•Hydraulic fracturing with saline water changes the water salinity and chemistry of flowback water.•Tradeoff between reduction in fresh water utilization and shale gas productivity.
The increased water consumption for hydraulic fracturing and the volume of wastewater generated from shale gas and tight oil exploration are major environmental challenges associated with unconventional energy development. Recycling of the flowback and produced water for hydraulic fracturing is one of the solutions for reducing the water footprint of hydraulic fracturing and removing highly saline oil and gas wastewater. Here we investigated the implications of recycling saline wastewater for hydraulic fracturing by monitoring the natural gas production, flowback water volume, and the water quality of generated flowback water in shale gas wells from Changning gas field in Sichuan Basin, China. A comparison of two sets of shale gas wells, with six wells in each sub-group, from the same location in Changning gas field shows lower (~20%) natural gas production and higher flowback water volume (~18%) in wells that were fracked with recycled saline wastewater relative to wells that were fracked with fresh water after a year of production. Geochemical analysis suggests that hydraulic fracturing with saline wastewater increases the salinity of the wastewater and reduces the magnitude of water-shale rock interactions. In spite of the direct economic consequences in reduction in natural gas production from recycling of wastewater for hydraulic fracturing, in areas where water scarcity could become a limiting factor for future large-scale shale gas development, hydraulic fracturing with recycled flowback water can be more beneficial than utilization of limited freshwater resources, as long as the higher saline flowback water is fully recycled.
The switch from the use of coal to natural gas or oil for energy generation potentially reduces greenhouse gas emissions and thus the impact on global warming and climate change because of the higher ...energy creation per CO.sub.2 molecule emitted. However, the climate benefit over coal is offset by methane (CH.sub.4) leakage from natural gas and petroleum systems, which reverses the climate impact mitigation if the rate of fugitive emissions exceeds the compensation point at which the global warming resulting from the leakage and the benefit from the reduction of coal combustion coincide. Consequently, an accurate quantification of CH.sub.4 emissions from the oil and gas industry is essential to evaluate the suitability of natural gas and petroleum as bridging fuels on the way to a carbon-neutral future.
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•H2, above all the green H2, will play a key role in the future energy transition.•Many countries are adopting hydrogen policies towards the net-zero GHG.•Storage and distribution are ...key enabling technologies for widespread H2 deployment.•Hydrogen deployment in a real CCGT proves a remarkable reduction of CO2 emissions.•H2 leads to carbon footprint reduction in Power to Gas and Gas to Electricity fields.
Hydrogen is gaining momentum in the current global energy transition framework. In fact a great and widespread enthusiasm is growing up towards it, as indicated by the current worldwide economic and political strategies, which endorse the carbon neutrality by 2030 and a fast transition to clean energy.
Green hydrogen has the potential to create a virtuous cycle for the future renewables-based electricity grids, as it can provide the much-needed flexibility to power systems, acting as a buffer to non-dispatchable renewable generation. Indeed, the excess energy, provided by conventional and renewable power plants, can be stored as hydrogen and then employed to produce electricity (fuel cells or power systems), heat (combustion) or both (co-generation), abating drastically the greenhouse gas production. In this scenario, it is important to understand what benefits could derive from the use of hydrogen. For this reason, the present work not only aims at reviewing the recent updates on hydrogen economy (in terms of the main advantages and drawbacks) but also focuses on determining the impact that this hydrogen may have in various sectors (transport, industry and power generation). Different assessments have been carried out showing how hydrogen can effectively contribute to the carbon neutrality goal. This work points out that hydrogen can be really sustainable if produced via electrolysis powered by renewable energies. Furthermore, for the mobility, the use of fuel cells currently turns out to be less efficient than the adoption of Li-ion batteries, but at the same time far less polluting (CO2,eq) and labor intensive. Finally, a near-term solution to contrast the power generation carbon footprint, namely the blending of fossil fuels with hydrogen, has been investigated. Thus, a real Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power plant has been selected as a case study, in order to assess the impact of the hydrogen employment in terms of power output and emissions with respect to the current status of the plant fueled with 100% natural gas. As a result, using a mixture with 70% CH4 and 30% H2 a remarkable reduction of CO2 can be achieved (0.28 MtCO2/year).
The exploration of unconventional hydrocarbons may be very effective in promoting economic development and confronting energy crisis around the world. However, the environmental risks associated with ...this practice might be an impediment if not adequately dimensioned. In this context, naturally occurring radioactive materials and ionizing radiation are sensitive aspects in the unconventional gas industry that may compromise the environmental sustainability of gas production and they should be properly monitored. This paper provides a radioecological assessment of the São Francisco Basin (Brazil) as part of an environmental baseline evaluation regarding the Brazilian potential for exploring its unconventional gas reserves. Eleven and thirteen samples of surface waters and groundwater were analyzed for gross alpha and beta using a gas flow proportional counter. A radiological background range was proposed using the ± 2 Median Absolute Deviation method. Using geoprocessing tools, the annual equivalent doses and lifetime cancer risk indexes were spatialized. Gross alpha and beta background thresholds in surface water ranged from 0.04–0.40 Bq L
−1
to 0.17–0.46 Bq L
−
, respectively. Groundwater radiological background varies from 0.006–0.81 Bq L
−1
to 0.06–0.72 Bq L
−1
for gross alpha and beta, respectively. All environmental indexes are relatively higher in the south of the basin, probably a direct response to the local volcanic formations. Traçadal fault and local gas seepages might also influence the gross alpha and beta distribution. All samples have radiological indexes below the environmental thresholds, and should remain at acceptable levels with the development of the unconventional gas industry in Brazil.
The natural gas reserves and gas recovery rate of tight gas sandstone reservoirs in the Sulige gas field in the Ordos Basin play a crucial role in China’s natural gas industry. This study aims to ...enhance the stable production time of the gas field by summarizing the geological characteristics of the tight gas sandstone reservoirs in the Sulige gas field, discussing the challenges in the development of the gas field, and providing recommendations for the development of the reservoirs. The results show that the matrix reservoir properties, effective sand body size, and gas-bearing properties of tight sandstone gas reservoirs in the Sulige gas field exhibit strong heterogeneity characteristics, and the western and northern parts of the basin edge are gas-water mixed storage areas. There are obvious differences in gas well production, cumulative production, production decline rate, and single well dynamic control reserves in different regions. The recovery of gas reservoirs is primarily influenced by reservoir quality and development well pattern. Increasing the well density increases from 1.5/km2 to 4/km2 in the gas field enrichment area, can raise the corresponding recovery rate from 26.0% to about 50% under the existing economic and technical conditions. Therefore, ensuring a stable production of the tight gas sandstone reservoirs in this gas field is challenging. To achieve a long-term stable production of the gas field, it is necessary to promote the refined reservoir description technology and improve the production through various measures such as replenishing fractures in wells with depleted fractures, sidetracking horizontal wells, and re-fracturing, thereby improving the reserve utilization degree. Moreover, implementing the negative pressure gas recovery technology as soon as possible can restore the production capacity of near-depletion wells.
Low-carbon development Cervigni, Raffaello; Rogers, John Allen; Henrion, Max
2013., 2013, 05-29-2013, 2013-05-29, 2015-03-18
eBook, Book
Odprti dostop
The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has formulated an ambitious strategy, known as Vision 20: 2020, which aims to make Nigeria the worlds 20th largest economy by 2020. This book argues that there ...are many ways that Nigeria can achieve the Vision 20: 2020 development objectives for 2020 and beyond, but with up to 32 percent lower carbon emissions. A lower carbon path offers not only the global benefits of reducing contributions to climate change, but also net economic benefits to Nigeria, estimated at about 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The FGN and the World Bank agreed, as part of the Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) 2010-13, to conduct an analysis of the implications of climate change for Nigeria's development agenda. The current volume focuses on low-carbon development. Building on the work under way on Nigeria's nationally appropriate mitigation actions, the authors evaluate opportunities to pursue national development priorities using technologies and interventions that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), referred to here as low-carbon options. The document is structured as follows: chapter one is introduction; chapter two provides essential background on the country and the economic sectors. Chapter three describes the analytical approach, providing a summary of how the scenarios were developed, methods of analysis, models, and the data and general assumptions used. Chapters four-seven present the analysis and results for each sector: agriculture and land use, oil and gas, power, and transport, respectively. Each chapter provides an introduction to the sector and the approach, findings, and recommendations for options and actions for low-carbon development. Chapter eight summarizes the key findings across sectors. It describes the main scenarios that were modeled across all sectors and their implications for GHG emissions and the economy. It provides general recommendations on how Nigeria can reconcile national growth objectives with low-carbon development using a cross-sector perspective.
Natural gas is considered a helpful transition fuel in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of other conventional power plants burning coal or liquid fossil fuels. Natural Gas Hydrates (NGHs) ...constitute the largest reservoir of natural gas in the world. Methane contained within the crystalline structure can be replaced by carbon dioxide to enhance gas recovery from hydrates. This technical review presents a techno-economic analysis of the full pathway, which begins with the capture of CO2 from power and process industries and ends with its transportation to a geological sequestration site consisting of clathrate hydrates. Since extracted methane is still rich in CO2, on-site separation is required. Focus is thus placed on membrane-based gas separation technologies widely used for gas purification and CO2 removal from raw natural gas and exhaust gas. Nevertheless, the other carbon capture processes (i.e., oxy-fuel combustion, pre-combustion and post-combustion) are briefly discussed and their carbon capture costs are compared with membrane separation technology. Since a large-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) facility requires CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure, a technical, cost and safety assessment of CO2 transportation over long distances is carried out. Finally, this paper provides an overview of the storage solutions developed around the world, principally studying the geological NGH formation for CO2 sinks.
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