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... gas is located in the
Hugoton-Panhandle field in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas; the LaBarge field
in the Riley Ridge area of Wyoming; and the federal facility in
the Cliffside field near Amarillo, Texas (Figure 2.2). Generally, natural
gas containing more than 0.3 percent helium is considered economic for
... |
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...
Wyoming. Most production from the Hugoton-Panhandle complex
is connected to or could be connected to the BLM helium pipeline and Cliffside
storage
facility near Amarillo, Texas. Approximately 2.8 billion scf (78
million scm) of helium was produced from this area in 1996, 2.2 billion
scf (61 million scm) ... |
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... ExxonMobil's LaBarge
gas field and Shute Creek gas processing facility in Wyoming was
originally designed to process approximately 480 million scf (13.3 million
scm) per day of natural gas; it entailed an investment of ... $1.5 billion.
The field and processing facility currently produce around 650 million
scf (18 million scm) per day of natural gas, with an anticipated upgrade
expected to increase the capacity to ... is 66.5 percent carbon dioxide,
20.5 percent methane, 7.4 percent nitrogen, 5.0 percent hydrogen sulfide,
and 0.6 percent helium. The processing facility produces carbon
dioxide (for enhanced oil recovery projects), methane, elemental sulfur,
and helium. At peak production, the facility could produce ... |
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... Although the rate of
return on investment has been disappointing, it is clear that ExxonMobil
expects the facility to be profitable throughout its projected lifetime.
Investments in equipment upgrades (including the helium processing facility)
and well drilling in ... to maintain deliverability are planned to continue.
It was clear to the committee members who visited the facility that
the facility is being operated in a manner consistent with ExxonMobil's
stated goal of another 50 years of operation.... |
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... of helium are produced
in Russia and Poland, China, and parts of Africa. Although the helium content
of the native gas produced at the Algerian facility is only 0.17
percent, economics are favorable since... |
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... December 31, 1996,
of which 217 billion scf (6 billion scm) is classified as measured reserves.
Of this total, 35 billion scf (1 billion scm) is in storage in the
Bush Dome reservoir, 4 billion scf (110 million scm) of which is privately
owned. The BLM category measured reserves comes closest to the ... |
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... BLM storage
at Cliffside... |
| On |
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... Private storage
at Cliffside... |
At
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bottom of |
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... that an increasing
fraction of Hugoton-Panhandle gas is being processed for helium. Plans
for helium processing plant capacity increases on the
storage pipeline
suggest that this trend will probably continue. Third, there is evidence
that natural gas processors in areas other than the Hugoton-... |
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bottom of |
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..., with this quantity
anticipated to increase to perhaps 1.4 billion scf (39 million scm) per
year in the near future. Further production from this facility is
constrained by plant capacity, which is not expected to be increased further.
However, such rates should be sustainable for the 50-year ... |
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bottom of |
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... from fields in the
Hugoton-Panhandle complex is expected to decline. However, if it is assumed
that the gas currently available at Cliffside (private storage plus
public storage plus native gas) is eventually made available, then
the lifetime of the helium processing facilities would suggest that ... |
| On |
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47 |
... Figure 4.2b indicates
the total amount of helium in the reserve facility (top curves)
and the amount of helium in the privately owned reserve (bottom curves),
assuming the supply and demand scenarios shown in Figure 4.2a. ... |
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47 |
... of natural gas processing
plants are becoming increasingly aware of the economic rewards of helium
extraction, however. BLM conservation and storage programs have
played a large role in getting this industry going and in stimulating interest
in extraction. As future uses of helium grow, the ... |