Digital Energy Journal- LNG fuelled drilling rigs in Marcellus Shale

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LNG fuelled drilling rigs in Marcellus Shale

Thursday, November 29, 2012

The first liquefied natural gas fuelled drilling rigs have started operations in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania, USA.

The operator is Seneca Resources Corp a subsidiary of National Fuel Gas Company. The driller is Ensign Drilling.

Powering a drill rig with natural gas instead of diesel can result in 60 percent lower fuel costs, GE says. Overall combustion emissions are also reduced by up to 25 per cent, and truck fleets can reduce fuel costs by over 25 per cent.

They will use 1 megawatt Jenbacher J320 gas engines to drive the drilling rigs, provided by GE.

The gas engines will replace diesel generators. They will provide all the electricity which the drilling rigs require.

Two rigs have been converted to LNG power, one was converted in October and the second was converted in November. The first rig is operating in Lycoming County, Pennsylvannia, and the second is operating in Forest, Elk, Jefferson and McKean counties.

LNG equipment and services was provided by Prometheus Energy Group.

The J320 is GE's first U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certified technology for mobile and stationary drilling applications.

Ensign Drilling operates 15 drilling rigs exclusively on natural gas in the United States-with 11 of them exclusively using GE's Jenbacher gas engines.

Associated Companies
» GE Energy

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