Mohammed Al-Asfoor

Natural gas finds itself in a race to the finish line between three elements: Piped natural gas, LNG and Floating LNG. It’s an interesting game that is all about getting more out of the ground for less money and getting it to market faster and easier.

LNG is cleaner than traditional fuels and the more we use it the less we will contribute to global emissions.

So, what is LNG?

LNG is simply natural gas converted to liquid state. It is a clear, colorless, non-toxic liquid that is formed when natural gas is cooled to -162°C. Natural gas is typically 90% Methane, but also contain Ethane, Propane, and small quantities of other compounds. The process of cooling the natural gas reduces its volume 600 times and is undertaken on what is called an LNG Train.

What is an LNG Train?

An LNG train is a natural gas plant’s liquefaction and purification facility. The typical LNG plant will have more than one train, with each one operating independently of the others. The world’s largest trains are owned by Qatar (Ras Laffan) and can liquefy around 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas/day.

Why we Liquify natural gas to LNG?

Because it makes it significantly easier to store in large volumes and to ship out for export over long distances.

How is LNG stored?

LNG is stored in large, refrigerated cylindrical tanks with domed roofs kept at atmospheric pressure. Both pressure and temperature are kept constant in a process referred to as auto refrigeration.

Transporting LNG

For international market, LNG is transported in special tanks on double-hulled ships to receiving terminals overseas. It then goes through a regasification process, which turns the LNG back into natural gas.

It is important that LNG is not to be confused with compressed natural gas (CNG), natural gas liquids (NGL), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or gas to liquids (GTL), all of which are comprised of different components.

They are the American and British companies that controlled the Middle East's oil production after World War II. It is a Cartel, which dominated the global Petroleum Industry from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s.

3 main Challenges that led to the Fall of the Seven Sisters dominance

1. Birth of OPEC: Formed in 1960, Established by 5 Countries, Iraq, Saudi, Iran, Kuwait & Venezuela, and expanded steadily through 1975, Since then, industry dominance has shifted to OPEC.

2. The declining share of world oil and gas reserves held by OECD (founded in 1961 by 38 member countries).

3. The emergence of powerful state-owned oil companies in emerging-market economies.

RISE of the NEW "Seven Sisters"

Many Countries with large reserves started in the 1970's nationalization of their Oil and Gas sectors. Since then, the market/industry dominance has shifted to the state-owned oil and gas companies in the emerging market economies.

In 2007 the Financial Times called these companies the "New Seven Sisters"

1. Saudi Aramco

2. Gasprom (Russia)

3. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)

4. National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)

5. PDVSA (Venezuela)

6. Petrobras (Brazil)

7. Petronas (Malaysia)

According to international Energy consulting firms that by 2012, 65% of the World known oil reserves were in the hands of the State-owned Oil and Gas Companies.

Oil and natural gas are trapped within porous rocks deep under the earth's crust and extracted by drilling a well with an oil rig. Once the well is drilled and completed the rig is removed, put Well on production and extraction of the reserves begins.

Today, extraction is all about what comes next. It’s not enough to just find a new resource and drill, drill, drill. It’s what an Operator company does after this to continue recovery and potentially DOUBLE production (and profits).

The 3 Recovery Phases

Wells when put on production they naturally decline after some time and to maintain production it is particularly important to introduce ‘artificial energy’ into a reservoir to boost production. Hence, the industry developed these 3 phases to recover as much as possible of the oil and gas.

1. Primary Oil Recovery: This phase uses natural pressure of the reservoir to push crude oil to the surface, typically extracting only 10% to 20% of the oil in the reservoir. Primary oil recovery is the extraction of only that oil that rises to the surface naturally or using lift devices like beam pumps. This phase only skims the surface of a reservoir’s potential.

2. Secondary Oil Recovery: Secondary oil recovery injects pressurized gas and water into the network of wells to drive residual crude oil and gas that has remained after the primary recovery phase to the surface. In this phase we’re looking at the extraction of an additional 25% to 30% of the oil in the reservoir.

3. Tertiary Oil Recovery: This phase is called EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery). It is, the ever-evolving third stage of recovery, involves the injection of various materials beyond water and gas into a network of wells to improve the flow of oil and gas to extract additional volumes of up to 30% more. This process differs from secondary recovery not only through the materials it injects, it’s not only maintaining reservoir pressure, but it alters the properties of the oil to facilitate additional production.

Energy is the capacity for doing work. It exists in potential, kinetic, thermal, electrical, chemical, nuclear, or other various forms. The energy always will be, Heat and Work, in the process of transfer from one body to another. After it has been transferred, energy is always designated according to its nature. Hence, heat transferred become thermal energy, while work done will be in the form of mechanical energy.

Energy is typically measured in Watts which is = Joules/second and 1 Joule = 1 kg m2 / s2

Because 1 Watt is considered small measure and to make Energy numbers useable, Engineers use multiples of thousand watts, like, Kilo, Mega, Giga and Terawatt.

One more confusing thing will be to differentiate between the "Instantaneous" and "Total Energy" use. For the Total Energy will require hours be added to the units like on the Energy bills.

Here is a list to make things clear and easy

Watt (W): An energy saving light bulb nowadays uses 6 watts (6W). if you keep it on for 12 hours it will use 72Wh.

Kilowatts (kW): This is equal to 1000 watts, used for domestic energy. A domestic electric oven uses 3kW and if you use it for 2 hours uses 6kWh.

Megawatts (MW): Used for power generation and distribution. An average gas power station generates 300 to 700 MW. In Bahrain Al Ezzel gas power plant generate 950MW, so in 2 hours it will generate 1,900MW.

Gigawatts (Gw): This unit is used to describe the national demand. The typical instantaneous demand for Bahrain top estimates has peak demand reaching around 4.5 Gw in the summer. While in Abu Dhabi in the (UAE) had a peak electricity demand of 10.2 Gw (2016).

Terawatts (Tw): This is a huge-number and used to describe big countries demand or country level consumption. In Bahrain, the total consumption was 26.11 TWh per year (2020).

Saudi Annual is 289 TWh

UAE Annual is 131 TWh (2019)

UK Annual is 310 TWh

The world consumption was around 23,398 Terawatt hours in 2018.

It is especially important for the leaders and policymakers to understand the nature of the Jevons Paradox, it is important in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals because it challenges the narratives behind sustainable energy policies striving for improvements in energy efficiency.

History of Jevons Paradox?

The Jevons paradox was first introduced by the English economist William Stanley Jevons in his 1865 book the "Coal Question". Jevons observed that England's consumption of coal soared after James Watt introduced the Watt steam engine, which improved the efficiency of the coal-fired steam engine. Watt's innovations made coal a more cost-effective power source, leading to the increased use of the steam engine in a wide range of industries. This in turn increased total coal consumption, even as the amount of coal required for any application fell. Jevons argued that improvements in fuel efficiency tend to increase (rather than decrease) fuel use.

The Jevons Paradox is the most widely known paradox in energy and environmental economics today.

Here is why

Many scientists and policymakers argue that future technological innovations will reduce consumption of resources; the Jevons Paradox explains why this may be a false hope.

Here are some examples to further explain this Paradox

1. Economists have observed that consumers tend to travel more when their cars are more fuel efficient, causing a 'rebound' in the demand for fuel. This means that, a decrease in the cost (or price) of a good or service will increase the quantity demanded (the law of demand). With a lower cost for travel, consumers will travel more, increasing the demand for fuel.

If cars are more efficient, it will simply lead to more driving

2. What about Water Usage? The more efficient the water processing/ or treatment is, will lead to more water consumption.

3. Here is a sad example, the expansion of slavery in the United States following the invention of the cotton gin (end of the 18th Century) caused the growth of slavery. While it was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the need for enslaved labor to grow and pick the cotton. In fact, the opposite occurred. Cotton growing became so profitable for enslavers that it increased their demand for both land and enslaved labor.

What other examples comes to your mind? Let me know :)

An Oil Field is an area of land in which accumulation of liquid Oil trapped by impermeable rock formations underground in multiple reservoirs/layers. Oil fields could extend up to several hundred kilometres on surface. On the ground surface you will see producing well, extraction equipment's setup to handle production and lots of pipelines to transfer the production.

It is estimated that more than 65,000 oil fields are scattered around the globe, on land and offshore.

Here are the 5 largest Oil Fields in the world

1. Ghawar Field, located in Saudi Arabia and discovered in 1948, is the largest Oil field in the world in terms of reserves (96 billion barrels) and daily production (around 4 million b/d). It is 280km long and 40km wide with an estimated thickness of 100 meters.

2. Burgan Field, located in Kuwait and discovered in 1946. It is the 2nd largest Oil field in the world but considered the biggest Sandstone field in the world. Current reserves stand at 67.2 billion barrels and daily production of 1.6 million b/d which accounts for more than half of Kuwait total production.

3. Ahvaz Field, located in Iran and discovered in 1954. It is Iran largest Oil field. Current reserves stand at 65 billion barrels and was producing 750,000 b/d in 2016.

4. Gachsaran Field, located in Iran and discovered in 1930. It is the 2nd largest Oil field in Iran. Its current reserves stand at 52.9 billion barrels and was producing 560,000 b/d. Currently have many Environmental issues like Oil spill and a lot of flaring.

5. Upper Zakum Field, located in the UAE and discovered in 1963. It is developed and operated by a JV. Japan Oil Development Corporation, ADNOC and ExxonMobil. Its reserves stand at 50 billion and production of 640,000 b/d. The Zakum oil field is made up of four man-made islands with the largest measuring 135 football pitches.

Oil and gas reserves and resources are volumes of oil and gas that can be commercially recovered in the FUTURE. It is particularly important for operators/governments to determine the present and future value of an oil and gas company’s reserves and resources.

Trust me, Reserves and Resources are some of the most misunderstood terms in the industry.

According to the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), there are 5 classifications of commerciality for Oil and Gas resources:

1. Production: Oil and gas that has already been recovered, so recovery is demonstrable.

2. Reserves: Proven, Probable and Possible (the 3Ps). The 3Ps categorize the level of certainty of commercial extraction for the reserves.

3. Contingent Reserves: These are potentially recoverable reserves that may not yet be mature enough to commercially extract, or that may require some technological complications.

4. Prospective Resources: These are resources that have not yet been discovered, and whose presence and volume is estimated based on indirect evidence and no drilling.

5. Unrecoverable Petroleum: These are resources that are not recoverable currently due to geological/technological reasons/difficulties.

Hence, under this (SPE) classification system, the least risk is associated with “Reserves”, because it carries some degree of certainty regarding future commercial extraction; while “Contingent Reserves” are “discovered” but considered “sub-commercial”, and “Prospective Reserves” are a considered the highest risk and a gamble because they are yet undiscovered.

The Energy mix should not be confused with the Power generation mix (also known as the Electricity mix).

Here is what Energy Mix means

The Energy mix of a country is the combination of different primary energy sources that make up the total supply of a country. Very few, if any, countries in the world use only one primary energy flow to power the entire country. Different energy services tend to use various sources.

For example, transportation in its various forms (cars, trucks, airplanes, ships) almost always use Petroleum products (Gasoline, Diesel etc) for their energy. On the other hand, residential energy use often includes biofuels or natural gas for heating and cooking. Homes often use good amount of electricity as well. This electricity must come from some primary energy sources because Electricity is an Energy Currency, rather than a source.

The energy mix of the country is therefore total sum of all these various sources of energy, including the energy that's imported from other countries.

Here is what Power Generation Mix means

The power generation mix (also known as the electricity mix) is the combination of the various fuels used to generate electricity in a given country. The power generation mix varies from one country to the next, depending on global markets, national policy choices and local fuel production.

Coal is still KING in the Power Generation Mix

Coal is currently still the main source of fuel for power generation Globally, accounting for more than 38% of the mix in 2018. But the gap with natural gas (23.4%) is closing. Crude Oil Fuels are vital for transportation and industry but is rarely used to generate electricity. Hydro is the most widely used renewable (almost 16%), whereas wind (4.8%) and solar (2.2%) are growing steadily. Nuclear energy peaks at just over 10%.

I hope this clarifies the Confusion between Energy Mix and Power Generation Mix :)

We hear a lot about this term now in the news and all industry events. What is CCS? and why it is important?

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is defined as the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it is released into the atmosphere, transporting it, and storing it (Carbon sequestration) for very long time.

Why must we capture Carbon?

A greenhouse gas can absorb infrared radiation, thereby trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. This is known as the greenhouse effect and leads to global warming. CO2 is one of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The world emits about 43 billion tons of CO2 a year (2020). Total carbon emissions from all human activities, including agriculture and land use. Therefore, we must do Capture and storage for emissions, in addition to massive emissions reduction using innovative technologies.

Available Technologies to Capture Carbon

The best most cost-effective place to capture carbon is at point Sources. These are industries with large Carbon emissions, such as Cement Processing, Steel making, Power generation, and fossil fuel-based Hydrogen production plants.

In general, there are 3 different technologies exists to capture carbon at point source.

1. Post-Combustion Capture: Here the Carbon (CO2) is removed after the combustion of the fuel. Example will be a fossil fuel-based Power plant, the CO2 will be captured from flue gasses at power stations.

2. Pre-Combustion Capture: This applied in fertilizer, Hydrogen and Power Production. Here the fossil fuel is first partially oxidized in gasifier to produce Synthesis gas (CO and H2), then the CO is reacted with steam (H2O) to get more Hydrogen and CO2. CO2 is captured from a relatively pure exhaust stream. The H2 can be used as fuel; the CO2 is removed before combustion.

3. Oxy-Fuel Combustion: Here the fuel is burned in pure Oxygen instead of Air which produce a flue gas that is mainly CO2 and water vapour. Condensing the water vapour and you remain with pure CO2 stream to be captured.

In the petroleum industry, Low-Sulfur Oils are called Sweet Oils and High-Sulfur Oils are referred to as Sour Oils. The names come from the fact that oil which is low in Sulfur has a sweet taste and high Sulfur oil is bitter. The more Sulfur the Crude Oil contains, the less Energy it produces per gallon, barrel, or litre.

There are 3 main reasons that make High-Sulfur (Sour) crude oil a lower quality - therefore less expensive - than Low-Sulfur (Sweet) crude oils.

Reason #1

High-Sulfur crude oils produce much Greater Emissions, particularly the emissions that are toxic and have a high global warming potential. The Sulfur in Sour crude reacts to different components in the Air to produce toxic emissions like Sulfuric Acid and Nitric Oxides.

Reason # 2

High-Sulfur oils cause oxidation and corrosion. Because of its high oxidation and corrosion qualities, refining high-sulfur crude oil is more expensive. If a Refinery is not properly fitted to support high-sulfur crude oil - and is well maintained on a regular basis, - the oxidation and corrosion damage generated will eventually exceed the Profits.

Reason # 3

The higher the Sulfur count, the lower the hydrocarbon count. Hydrocarbons being the component in Petroleum that combusts and generates energy. Generally, Carbon and Hydrogen make up around 98 percent of the content of a typical crude oil type. The rest is made up of Sulfur (1-3 percent), nitrogen, oxygen, metal, and salts (less than 1 percent each).

To sum it up, the more Sulfur a Crude Oil contains, the fewer Hydrocarbons it contains on a volume scale. 

Hydrogen is an invisible gas, so, why it confusingly has many colourful names/descriptions? In fact, there is no visible difference between the several types of Hydrogen.

Green hydrogen, blue hydrogen, brown hydrogen and even yellow hydrogen, turquoise hydrogen, and pink hydrogen. They’re only colour codes, used within the energy industry to differentiate between the types of hydrogen.

Here is why Hydrogen have different Colour nicknames?

This is depending on the type of production technology used, different colours are assigned to the hydrogen. It is important to know that there is no universal naming convention yet, and these colour definitions may change over time, and even between countries.

Here is a brief guid to understand the Hydrogen Colour Code.

Green Hydrogen: Is produced with no greenhouse gas emissions. It is made by using clean electricity from renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind, to electrolyse water. It is so expensive to produce.

Blue Hydrogen: Is produced mainly from natural gas, using a process called steam reforming. The output of this process is Hydrogen – but also carbon dioxide as a by-product. That means Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) is essential to trap and store this carbon.

Grey Hydrogen: This is the most common form of hydrogen production. Grey hydrogen is created from natural gas, or methane, using steam reforming but without capturing the Greenhouse gases made in the process.

Black and Brown Hydrogen: This is produced using Gasification process using black coal or lignite (brown coal). It is the most environmentally damaging among all other process.

Pink Hydrogen: Generated through electrolysis powered by nuclear energy. Also be referred to as purple or red hydrogen.

Turquoise Hydrogen: Is made using a process called methane pyrolysis to produce hydrogen and solid carbon.

Yellow Hydrogen: Is a relatively new phrase for hydrogen made through electrolysis using solar Power.

White Hydrogen: Naturally occurring geological hydrogen found in underground deposits and created through fracking. There are no strategies to exploit this hydrogen at present.

So, how invisible and colourless is Hydrogen now :)

An Oil field is a tract of land used for the purpose of extracting Petroleums (Crude Oil and Natural), from under the ground. Identifying viable oil fields is an important piece of the Upstream Oil industry. Oil field consists of a reservoir of fossil fuel found deep in the rocky strata of the Earth, where Hydrocarbons have become trapped.

Currently, there are more than 65,000 oil fields around the world, with many of the largest located in the Middle East. Despite the large number of fields 94% of known reserves are concentrated in fewer than 1500 major oil fields.

But why we give names to Oil Fields?

At present Oil fields can be identified by their block numbers or using the modern coordinate system (Latitude and Longitude). However, giving oil fields names help personalise and identify it throughout its life cycle.

So, how do Oil Fields are Named?

The answer (surprisingly) is that there are no rules for naming Oil fields! Depending on where you are in the world, Names are generally, but not always, chosen to suit an existing naming convention, such as natural history, famous figures, first names, area names or mountains.

For example, in Norway, the Government guidelines dictate fields must bear Norwegian names with significance to the country’s heritage.

Historically, in many locations around the world, fields were named by the Geologists or the Drilling teams who conduct the exploration works, not by CEOs or marketing teams. And, in an industry that is Male dominated, a lot of the nomenclature is Female.

How about where you live, what names are used for the Oil Field? and why?

Please let me know :)

Let's move away little from Oil to Natural Gas. Natural Gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon coming from fossils, just like Oil and Coal. The main components of Natural Gas as it comes from the reservoir are Methane (C1) and Ethane (C2) with varying amounts of heavier hydrocarbons that can include Propane (C3), Butane (C4), and Pentane (C5). Also, sometimes have small percentage of Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen, Hydrogen Sulfide, or Helium.

Combustion of Natural Gas releases tiny amounts of Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxides, and virtually no ash or particulate matter. The main products of the combustion of natural gas are Carbon Dioxide and Water Vapor, the same compounds we exhale when we breathe.

Here is a list of the several types of Natural Gas (Listed Alphabetically)

Coal Bed Methane (CBM): Natural gas extracted from coal beds.

Dry gas: Almost pure methane, occurring in the absence of liquid hydrocarbons or by processing natural gas to remove liquid hydrocarbons.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG): Natural gas that is converted into a liquid by refrigerating it to -160°C and reducing its volume by 600 times, enabling it to be shipped from producing areas to markets. LNG is destined to become a massively significant part of the Global Energy equation over the coming years.

Natural Gas: Naturally occurring Hydrocarbon Gases found in porous rock formations.

Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs): A general term for highly volatile liquid products separated from Natural Gas in a gas processing plant. NGLs include Ethane, Propane, Butane and Condensate.

Sour Gas: A Natural Gas containing significant amounts of Hydrogen Sulfide.

Sweet Gas: Natural gas that contains little or no Hydrogen Sulfide.

Tight Gas: Natural gas produced from impermeable rock. Getting tight gas out usually requires enhanced technology applications like Hydraulic Fracturing. The term is generally used for reservoirs other than shale.

Wet Gas: Produced Gas that contains Natural Gas Liquids.

Natural Gas has the cleanest combustion profile of all the fossil fuels.

The downstream segment of the Oil and Gas industry can be defined as the companies, equipment, and processes used to refine, distribute, manufacture, and retail crude oil or natural gas into consumable products.

Downstream oil and gas companies are the ones who provide the critical final steps where Oil and Gas resources meet their final purpose.

Here are the four key characteristics of downstream

1. It is a Margin Business

2. It is very Complex

3. Requires a global perspective

4. Deals with getting products to end users

Now, Let's go deeper over the first 3, the 4th one is self-explained

A Margin Business: Margin is simply defined as the difference between the price set/ or realized for the products produced from the crude oil and the cost of the crude oil delivered to the refinery.

Margins in the downstream tend to be reduced or squeezed when crude price increases cannot be recovered in the marketplace. On the other hand, margins tend to hold, or even increase, when crude prices drop, and the marketplace more slowly adjusts to these lower crude oil prices.

A Very Complex: downstream segment is extremely complex because it includes diverse activities and technologies such as refining, petrochemicals, distribution, and wholesale and retail marketing.

Require a Global perspective: A global perspective is important because of the global nature of the Energy supply chain as well as the impact of supply and demand on both feedstock and product prices.

The downstream business is facing more challenges now than ever before, as all global economies continue to expand, there will be continual balance and trade-offs made between the fuel qualities, pricing, and environmental impact.

A Carbon footprint is defined as the total amount of greenhouse gases (most common are Carbon Dioxide and Methan) that are generated and emitted by our daily life actions. For example, the Carbon footprint for a person living in America is 16 tons/year on average (Canada 18 tons). Globally the average is closer to 4 tons.

Some scientists say to avoid rising global temperatures (+2 deg C), the average global carbon footprint must drop to about 2 tons/person/year by year 2050.

Lowering individual carbon footprints from 16 (Average American) tons to 2 tons doesn’t happen overnight! Only by making slight changes to our actions, like eating less meat, taking fewer connecting flights etc... these actions can start making a significant difference.

Here are Some insights/examples about Carbon intensity

1 Cup of Coffee - 21g

1 Cheeseburger - 4kg

1 Hour Surgery under anaesthetic - 24kg

Buying Cloths, textile, or a shoe worth of $100 per year - 30kg

Train Trip London to Paris (on Eurostar) - 4.1kg

Spending $200 per year on hotels - 80kg

Economy Return flight Bahrain to UK - 1.5 ton (7.5 tons on First Class)

Average UK Citizen - 5.3 tons

Bahraini annual emissions - 24 million tons (2016 data)

Saudi annual emissions - 517 million tons (2016 data)

China annual emissions - 10.4 billion tons (2016 data)

Global annual emissions - 36 billion tons

For a Houshold, Transport, housing and food have the three largest carbon footprints. Food average is at 17 to 20% of total household emissions.

Meat, cheese, and eggs have the highest carbon footprint. Fruit, vegetables, beans, and nuts have much lower carbon footprints.

Important to understand that Not all Crude Oils are the same. different crudes not just have different ingredients but also different qualities. Some crude oils are preferred over others by the Refiners. Hence, we have different Price for each different quality of Crude oil.

The reason crude oils from various locations are of higher and lower quality is that of the Geologic Processes that produce the crude oil. All crude oil is found in sedimentary rock. Different crude oil types are the results of the different sedimentary rock types.

So, what is High Quality and What is Low Quality Oil?

The Sulfur content and the Weight are the two qualities by which crude oil is typically judged/priced. High-Sulfur + heavy oils are the lowest quality and the least expensive on the global market. Low-Sulfur + light oils bring the highest price because they are of the highest quality.

Let's talk briefly about each quality

1- High Vs Low Sulfur Oil

In the Petroleum industry these are called Sweet and Sour Oils. Oils with which is low in Sulfur will taste sweet and bitter when Sulfur is high. Historically, when a well began to produce, prospectors would taste the oil to determine its quality. Sweet crude tastes as the name implies and sour crude oil tastes rotten. In short, the more Sulfur crude oil contains, the less energy it produces per gallon, barrel, or litre.

2- Heavy Vs Light Oil

American Petroleum Institute (API) Gravity is the measure of the weight of crude oil. It is calculated using the following formula API = 141.5/SG - 131.5. So, if an oil’s API Gravity is greater than 10, it is lighter than water and will float on it. If an oil’s API Gravity is less than 10, it is heavier than water and will sink. There are 4 classifications of API gravity: Light Oils (31.1 - 45.4), Medium (22.3 - 30.2), Heavy (10.0 - 21.5), and Extra Heavy (0.1 - 6.5).

Hydrogen H is the simplest member of the family of chemical elements. It has an atomic number of 1 and is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula H₂. It is colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic, and highly combustible.

Hydrogen is easily the most abundant element in the Universe. It is found in the sun and most of the stars, even planet Jupiter is composed mostly of hydrogen. On Earth, natural hydrogen alone cannot be found, hydrogen is found in the greatest quantities as water.

So, how do we Produce Hydrogen?

Although abundant on earth as an element, hydrogen is almost always found as part of another compound, such as Water (H2O) or Methane (CH4), and it must be separated into pure hydrogen (H2) for use as a fuel.

Here are the 4 most known methods to Produce Hydrogen

1. Natural Gas Reforming/Gasification: By reacting Natural gas with high-temperature steam, we get what is called Synthesis gas (Mixture of Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide). This method is the cheapest, most efficient, and most common.

   Synthesis gas can also be produced by reacting Coal or Biomass with high-temperature steam in a pressurized gasifier and this process called Gasification.

2. Electrolysis: Here an Electric current is used to split water into Hydrogen and Oxygen. Know Power to Hydrogen projects are taking off when there is available excess Electricity.

3. Liquid Fuels Reforming: Liquid fuels, such as Ethanol, are reacted with high-temperature steam to produce hydrogen near the point of end use.

4. Fermentation: This is when Biomass is converted into sugar-rich feedstocks that can be fermented to produce hydrogen.

More to come on Hydrogen so stay tuned :)

Yesterday 18th January OPEC released its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR). The report covers major issues affecting the world oil market and provides an outlook for crude oil market developments for the coming year. It also provides a detailed analysis of key developments impacting oil market trends in world oil demand, supply as well as the oil market balance.

Here is a summary of 4 Key highlights from MOMR

1. World Economy

The Global GDP growth forecasts for 2021 and 2022 are at 5.5% and 4.2%, respectively.

USA growth is estimated at 5.5% for 2021 but for 2022 is estimated at 4%. Eurozone forecast at 5.2% for 2021 and 3.9% for 2022. China’s GDP forecast at 8% for 2021 and 5.6% for 2022. India’s GDP forecast at 8.8% for 2021 and 7% for 2022. Russia’s GDP forecast at 4% for 2021 and 2.7% for 2022.

2. World Oil Demand

World oil demand growth in 2021 is estimated at 5.7 mb/d to average 96.6 mb/d.

In 2022, the forecast for world oil demand growth estimated at 4.2 mb/d, with total global consumption at 100.8 mb/d.

3. World Oil Supply

Non-OPEC liquids supply growth in 2021 estimated at around 0.7 mb/d, y-o-y, to average 63.6 mb/d. The non-OPEC supply growth forecast for 2022 is estimated at around 3.0 mb/d, to average 66.7 mb/d.

OPEC NGLs are forecast to grow by 0.1 mb/d both in 2021 and 2022 to average 5.1 mb/d and 5.3 mb/d, respectively. In December, OPEC crude oil production increased by 0.2 mb/d m-o-m, to average 27.9 mb/d.

4. Balance of Supply and Demand

Demand for OPEC crude in 2021 remains unchanged from the previous month to stand at 27.8 mb/d, around 4.9 mb/d higher than in 2020. Demand for OPEC crude in 2022 also remains unchanged from the previous month to stand at 28.9 mb/d, around 1.0 mb/d higher than in 2021.