Associated Petroleum Gas Utilization: New Opportunities for the Oil and Gas Complex in a Circular Economy

¹ Ph.D, student, St. Petersburg Mining University, 199106, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
² PhD in Economics, Senior Researcher, Luzin Institute for Economic Studies – Subdivision of the Federal Research Centre, Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Science, 184209, Apatity, Russia

^* Corresponding author: arina_german@mail.ru

Abstract

The topic of the beneficial use of associated petroleum gas (APG) remains relevant due to the limited resources and environmental problems. This is the engine for the active development of management theory and practice with a focus on such concepts as resource saving, energy efficiency and circular economy, which determine the vector of environmentally oriented development of industrial enterprises. In this paper, the existing methods of APG utilization are considered, a qualitative comparison of technologies in terms of such parameters as CAPEX, marketable output, prospects for the sale of commercial products, loss of profits, environmental damage, extraction of petrochemical raw materials from APG, technology implementation period is carried out. Based on the example of the Messoyakha fields, the economic efficiency of APG utilization technologies, which correspond to the characteristics of the field (injection into the reservoir, shallow and deep processing) was calculated. The calculations showed that deep conversion is the most effective method of utilization of APG stored in underground gas storage (UGS) of the Messoyakha fields. This method of APG utilization is integrated into the circular economy system and meets its principles.