Development Strategy 



There is no fixed quantity of gas which justifies the development 

 of a field (although 2 million cubic feet per day is generally sufficient). 

 The major factors which determine whether a gas processing plant is 

 built are the volume of gas discovered, the "richness" of the gas measured 

 in gallons of liquid petroleum per 1,000 cubic feet of gas, and costs 

 [26]. The richer a formation is in liquid hydrocarbons, the smaller a 

 find needs to be in order to justify the construction of a gas processing 

 plant. Gas must be found in sufficient quantity to justify the cost of 

 processing, transporting, and distributing it. If an insufficient 

 amount of gas is discovered, the well may be capped, or the gas may be 

 reinjected into the well to maintain the formation pressure if commercial 

 quantities of oil can be produced. 



Gas is usually sold to a gas company at the well. The gas company 

 is then responsible for constructing a gas pipeline. The oil company, 

 which retains the rights to the liquid hydrocarbons in the gas stream, 

 is responsible for constructing the gas processing plant. The cost of a 

 gas processing plant depends on the quantity of gas, the richness of the 

 gas, the degree of extraction of the key component (methane) and the 

 number of separate products that are fractionated and stored [26]. 



211 



