Raffles Energy SRL, the Romanian subsidiary wholly-owned by Raffles Energy Group, has commenced on December 5th the electricity generation from the Gas-to-Power (“GTP”) plant / facility at Dornesti Sud gas field. This is placed in the EIV-1 Suceava Concession (Raffles 50% and operator, Zeta Petroleum SRL 50%) in North East Romania.
The Dornesti Sud gas field was discovered in 2007. However, at the time, suitable solutions to monetise the gas did not exist and therefore the discovery well was put into “conservation”. In particular, the location of the Dornesti Sud field did not lend itself to a conventional pipeline tied back to the Bilca Gas Plant operated by Raffles.
We are proud to successfully pioneer the GTP solution as an effective way to put into production commercially marginal discoveries
Last year it was decided to put the Dornesti field in experimental production by constructing a highly efficient power plant, based on a phased modular design that allows to build-up an electricity production rate of up to 2.5 MW/hour. The facility is located next to the discovery (containing high calorific value conventional natural gas with over 99% methane, at ca 500m depth) and enables direct conversion of the gas to electricity with connection to the nearby national electricity grid. Dornesti GTP represents the first gas field in Romania that has been developed and started the production directly via the on-site GTP solution.
A second GTP plant on the Lilieci gas field
In the coming months, Raffles plans to put into production a second GTP plant on the Lilieci gas field, that was discovered in 2009 in outskirts of Bacau town, in the EIII-4 Bacau Concession (Raffles 60% and operator, S.N.G.N. Romgaz S.A 40%). Lilieci represents a conventional natural gas accumulation (over 98% methane) consisting of several stacked reservoirs located between 500m and 2300m. The construction works on Lilieci site are in an advanced stage. Lilieci development is based on a similar phased approach to Dornesti Sud, with modular design that would enable further capacity expansion up to an electricity production rate of 4.5 MW/hour. It is expected to connect this facility to the national electricity grid in the second half of December with the aim to complete the production and facility commissioning tests early next year.
The total investment across the “reservoir-to-wire” value chain (i.e. from the drilling of the gas discovery wells, the construction of the gas production and power generation facilities to the connectors to the national electricity grid) is in excess of Euros 5.5million for Lilieci GTP and respectively Euros 2.5million for Dornesti GTP.
“We are delighted to start the operations at our first GTP facility in Romania”, Raffles Energy Group Chief Executive Officer Dr Doru Morariu said. “This demonstrates Raffles’ capability to master the full-cycle project execution and commercial delivery across the gas-to-power value chain. We are proud to successfully pioneer the GTP solution as an effective way to put into production commercially marginal discoveries. We are excited to complement our upstream oil and gas expertise and also become an electricity producer for the Romanian energy market.”
“Raffles is privileged to have two excellent joint-venture partners, S.N.G.N. Romgaz S.A and Zeta Petroleum SRL, who unreservedly provided their full support and backing to develop these two challenging GTP projects. For Raffles as operator, it was important to be given valuable assistance from its joint-venture partners. We would also like to extend our appreciation to the National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM) and the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) for their continuous support and advice to Raffles-led initiatives to develop stranded natural gas discoveries via GTP solutions. We are looking forward to successfully promoting and implementing new energy related projects in Romania.”