Posted on 06/03/2013 8:14:37 PM PDT by ckilmer
CASPER, Wyo. — A Casper company is selling a product that it believes could address one of Wyoming’s burning energy issues — and business is booming.
Moser Energy Systems, a 40-year-old company in west Casper, has since 2010 built and sold a special brand of engine to oil field operators.
The engine changes the way operators deal with unwanted natural gas from oil wells, a resource normally burned off in a process called flaring. Instead of burning that gas solely to prevent emissions, oil operators can use a natural gas-powered Moser engine to generate electricity for their well pad — a job usually done by engines powered by dirtier gasoline and diesel.
“Gas that would normally be flared or wasted — our engines run off that,” said Jakob Norman, company executive vice president. “Rather than letting it go, we found a use for it.”
The business is doing well.
Moser hasn’t always sold natural gas-powered engines. The business was founded in 1973 as an oil field electricity generation specialist.
The company rented light towers, heaters and other products to companies that needed to keep pump jacks running.
In 2010, the company began building and selling a new product — a natural gas engine.
Natural gas engines are far from novel. Many oil producers use the engines to power drilling rigs.
The engines are also increasingly used in the automotive industry, largely because the fuel is affordable and emits relatively low amounts of pollutants.
But Moser’s engines are different than most on the market. They could help cut down on an oil production practice that has drawn some negative attention.
Oil operators constantly encounter natural gas while drilling for their targeted resource. They often don’t have a way to collect, process and sell the gas.
So most burn the gas by sending it into devices called flaring tubes. The process is better than freely releasing the gas into the atmosphere, they say.
But flaring is far from acceptable in the eyes of some. Several landowner groups in Wyoming have asked the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to limit the practice.
Gov. Matt Mead included a review of flaring rules in his state energy strategy, which he released earlier this month. The commission is drafting flaring rules now.
Norman said his company’s product could be one way for operators to cut flare length and volume. The gas is still burned, but in an engine instead of an open flame far above ground.
In this system, the gas is routed through a scrubbing tank for drying and then burned, generating usable electricity — anywhere from 25 kilowatts to multiple megawatts, depending on need.
If a company opts to use a Moser engine, Norman said it can also save on the cost to buy and transport the fuel to run their previous generator. Many such generators are diesel-fueled.
“This application is best for everyone,” Norman said. “We can save what gas would be wasted and save diesel fuel.”
The company does business worldwide. Moser engines — mostly leased — are operating in Canada and Ecuador, as well as in the Eagle Ford shale play in Texas and the Bakken play in North Dakota.
Norman said business in Wyoming is “starting to pick up,” and he expects more interest from Wyoming producers in the future. He said his company is more experienced with the type of engine than anyone else.
“We’re putting more of this unit out than anybody in the U.S.,” he said. “I think that’s pretty neat.”
Bruce Hinchey is the president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, a trade group that actively represents operators around the state. Hinchey said he hasn’t heard of engines like Moser’s catching on in Wyoming, but said good products usually find their way to the market.
“I’m sure if they’re good, they’ll sell,” he said. “If they work and they do what they say, a company will use them.”
Moser is also expanding its footprint in the Casper metro area.
Company executives recently announced plans to expand to a new 37,500 square-foot manufacturing facility in Evansville. The new space will allow the company — which employs 50 — to produce more and hire more people.
“We’re going to quadruple production,” Norman said. “In the next couple of years, it wouldn’t surprise me if we get to 100” employees.
Moser staff can build an entire gas-burning engine in a day, from engine modification to mounting on a metal frame to loading onto a trailer and adding a metal cover for final send-off.
Norman hopes to soon adorn each unit with a decal sticker of Steamboat, Wyoming’s legendary bucking horse. The company is in talks for rights to the image.
“We’re proud of the fact that these are made in Wyoming and going everywhere,” Norman said. “We don’t have plans to change the fact that they’re made in Wyoming.”
I’d often wondered why they did not do anything to save that gas, which does have to be vented from oil wells for safety’s sake. I guess the cheapest thing to do was to just burn it.
Ok, one of the geniuses of FR answer this question for me if you can: If a person lived in a area where Natural gas was plentiful and already had a line supplying their house with gas, would it be possible to hook to the line and run a nat gas powered engine for a generator, one big enough to run an aveage house(say 1200 sq ft.), and would it be cheaper or more costly than staying with the electric company?
There are households that are powered by private natural gas wells.
Ping
We have a 20/17Kw unit. After the Monument fire there was a three hour power outage when too many AC units were turned on at once. Ours lasted about 30 seconds. Since it was during the day, our solar inverters carried most of the load, and the generator just provided a frequency standard.
A natural gas a/c generation station large enough to run an average size residence would not be cost effective unless you need to insure that you have power in a blackout. Most electric utilities use Nat gas purchased at huge discounts to generate grid power. They sell it to you at a little less than your costs would be when purchase, maintenance and replacement costs are calculated in.
I don’t know about cost but I do know of a few of home power back-up generator installations around here that do exactly what you describe. They automatically start and connect to the house mains when the power goes out, and they are connected to the natural gas supply for fuel.
When I was in high school, our chemistry class toured the local sewage disposal facility. They had a big engine powered by sewer gas and were flaring the excess off.
why they couldn’t collect it and have a second energy product to sell has always baffled me.
ping
They do everything they can to save the gas but sometimes you just can’t. When you have no where to go with it you have to flare it until that system is in place. It’s about pipelines and allot of them once you establish an area then comes the major transmission line from the gas company and then you have to put in the line feeding from your well to it. It takes allot of gas being produced before their going to go to the expence of running a 4 to 8 inch line to your area so until that area is producing enough you don’t have many options.
I’ve got three gathering points on the ranch where we tie into the main line and all new wells have to tie into one or the other and that takes money so you have to be producing enough to justify the cost. My last well is still flowing about 30 barrels a day and is about 4 miles away from the main line so right now I just vent the gas back through the tanks until we get the line put in.
It’s not always vented just for safety, most of the time it’s vented to get the pressure of so the well will produce. I have several wells that when shut in can go over 1000 psi easy and that pressure pushs back into the formation making it more difficult for the oil to flow.
Not cost effective but it is a good idea, I’ve lost electrics many times over the years but I’ve never lost gas. Works great in an emergency.
They have no way to collect it until a pipeline is built and that takes time.
Likely, though it would probably require a higher-flow meter to be set in place.
More costly. The economics of large central station electrical generation are hard to beat. Which is why we do it.
No technical challanges, just economic. Keep in mind you need a generated sized for continuous, 24/7/365, not a standby power rating. And you will need to maintain it, changing oil and the like. Are you going to be without power during these times or do you want the ability to switch back to utility with little warning?
and would it be cheaper or more costly than staying with the electric company?
Even if you completely did away with the utility connection, it is not even close to breaking even. Remember you need to size your generator to run your full air conditioning load on the hotest day of the year. Most of the time you will operate far below that and be at a rather inefficient point of the generator loading. Plus utilities that buy Natural Gas in volumes requiring pipe diameters measured in feet is paying far less than you are on your service.
I would like to have seen them discuss the permitting requirements. I’ve put in back-up Natural Gas and Diesel fired generators for compressor stations and pump station. Even in remote areas, we had to limit the run time in the auto-cycle to less than 4 hours a week or we had other permitting problems.
The flares emit worse, but the flares are not allowed forever. They have a limited time before they have to be piped in and captured.
What limits are you given for flaring/venting?
I’ve read about the Bakken being given extension beyond the initial year permit to flare. In Alaska, it was greatly limited and we had to measure and pay royalties on any gas not re-injected for pressure maintenance.
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