IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v12y2023i8p91-d1208898.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Techno-Economic Analysis of Natural Gas Valuation in the Amazon Region to Increase the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Production in Ecuador

Author

Listed:
  • Darwin Ortiz

    (Grupo de Investigación Aplicada en Materiales y Procesos (GIAMP), School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Yachay Tech University, Hacienda San José s/n y Proyecto Yachay, Urcuquí 100119, Ecuador)

  • Damián Calderón

    (Grupo de Investigación Aplicada en Materiales y Procesos (GIAMP), School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Yachay Tech University, Hacienda San José s/n y Proyecto Yachay, Urcuquí 100119, Ecuador)

  • Alfredo Viloria

    (Grupo de Investigación Aplicada en Materiales y Procesos (GIAMP), School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Yachay Tech University, Hacienda San José s/n y Proyecto Yachay, Urcuquí 100119, Ecuador)

  • Marvin Ricaurte

    (Grupo de Investigación Aplicada en Materiales y Procesos (GIAMP), School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Yachay Tech University, Hacienda San José s/n y Proyecto Yachay, Urcuquí 100119, Ecuador)

Abstract

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a C 3 /C 4 ’s hydrocarbon mixture used as fuel gas, obtained through natural gas processing or crude oil refining. The Ecuadorian LPG production (~1.88 MMbbl/year) comes from the Shushufindi gas plant and the Esmeraldas refinery. However, LPG production cannot meet the Ecuadorian market demand, and over 90% of this commodity is imported. At the same time, the natural gas produced in the Amazon region is not fully valued. A significant quantity of the associated gas is flared (~100 MMscfd), representing wasted energy with a significant environmental impact. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a technical and economic assessment of the potential natural gas valuation in the Amazon region to increase LPG production. The study started with a detailed review of the associated gas produced in the Amazon region. The data were analyzed considering the geographic location of the hydrocarbon fields, molar composition, flowrates, and operational conditions. Then, a natural gas value chain visualization was proposed and technically analyzed. Finally, an economic feasibility (class V) study was conducted, considering a preliminary analysis of capital expenditure (CAPEX) and an economic balance. The outcome of this study showed that by processing 21.50 MMscfd of associated gas from the Sacha field, domestic LPG production could increase by 30.9%. The required infrastructure consists of conventional processes for natural gas processing, with an estimated CAPEX of 36.6 MMUSD. Furthermore, despite the domestic subsidies of commodities, the potential savings for the country would be 32.13 MMUSD/year, an alternative more economically viable than the current LPG imports. Thus, the investment cost will be justified.

Suggested Citation

  • Darwin Ortiz & Damián Calderón & Alfredo Viloria & Marvin Ricaurte, 2023. "A Techno-Economic Analysis of Natural Gas Valuation in the Amazon Region to Increase the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Production in Ecuador," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-21, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:12:y:2023:i:8:p:91-:d:1208898
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/12/8/91/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/12/8/91/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elena Katysheva, 2023. "Analysis of the Interconnected Development Potential of the Oil, Gas and Transport Industries in the Russian Arctic," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-22, March.
    2. Marvin Ricaurte & Paola E. Ordóñez & Carlos Navas-Cárdenas & Miguel A. Meneses & Juan P. Tafur & Alfredo Viloria, 2022. "Industrial Processes Online Teaching: A Good Practice for Undergraduate Engineering Students in Times of COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-15, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tatyana Kukharova & Alexander Martirosyan & Mir-Amal Asadulagi & Yury Ilyushin, 2024. "Development of the Separation Column’s Temperature Field Monitoring System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Willam Trujillo & Joseph Cobo & Dayanna Vera-Cedeño & Alex Palma-Cando & Jorge Toro-Álava & Alfredo Viloria & Marvin Ricaurte, 2022. "Magnetic Separation and Enrichment of Fe–Ti Oxides from Iron Titaniferous Beach Sands: Process Design Applied to Coastal Ecuador," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Natalia Kirsanova & Marina Nevskaya & Semyon Raikhlin, 2024. "Sustainable Development of Mining Regions in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-28, March.
    4. Pavel Tsiglianu & Natalia Romasheva & Artem Nenko, 2023. "Conceptual Management Framework for Oil and Gas Engineering Project Implementation," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-27, May.
    5. Ekaterina Golovina & Vera Khloponina & Pavel Tsiglianu & Runchu Zhu, 2023. "Organizational, Economic and Regulatory Aspects of Groundwater Resources Extraction by Individuals (Case of the Russian Federation)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-16, July.
    6. Yury Valeryevich Ilyushin & Ekaterina Ivanovna Kapostey, 2023. "Developing a Comprehensive Mathematical Model for Aluminium Production in a Soderberg Electrolyser," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-28, August.
    7. Jesús González & Liliana Martínez & Roberto Aguas & Jhon De La Hoz & Henry Sánchez, 2023. "Redesign and Implementation of the Electromagnetism Course for Engineering Students Using the Backward Design Methodology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-14, August.
    8. Oksana Marinina & Anna Nechitailo & Gennady Stroykov & Anna Tsvetkova & Ekaterina Reshneva & Liudmila Turovskaya, 2023. "Technical and Economic Assessment of Energy Efficiency of Electrification of Hydrocarbon Production Facilities in Underdeveloped Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-25, June.
    9. Alex Borodin & Irina Vygodchikova & Galina Panaedova & Irina Mityushina, 2023. "Rating of Stability of Russian Companies in Oil and Gas and Electric Power Industries Based on Interval Volatility," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-16, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:12:y:2023:i:8:p:91-:d:1208898. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.