Definition
Condensate is referring to the natural gas liquids (NGLs) contained in the raw gas.
Comments
The raw gas or gas is made of natural gas (methane) and condensate.
When the gas is produced from the reservoir it contains roughly 80%-95% methane and 20%-5% condensate.
These condensate or natural gas liquids (NGLs) are mainly ethane, ethylene, propane, butane, butylene, isobutane, isobutylene, or pentane.
Most of these condensate are valuable feedstock for the petrochemical industry.
These condensate are separated from the natural gas (methane) close to the gas field before transportation.
There are two types of natural gas liquids:
– The normally liquids which can be extracted right at the wellheads
– The condensed gaseous liquids which request compression or refrigeration treatment at the gas processing plant.
These condensates may also be classified into two categories:
– Lighter hydrocarbons, such as ethane and propane
– Heavier hydrocarbons, such as pentane, hexane, heptane
Propane and Butane are easy to liquefied by compression, then they can be stored, transported and distributed in steel frame bottles for domestic use in cooking or heating.
The heavier hydrocarbons may be used to produce gasoline since they are liquid at normal pressure and temperatures. They are called lease condensate or natural gasoline.
As a results the gas field producing nearly exclusively natural gas is called dry gas as it contains very few condensate.
In opposite way, when a gas field produces a lot of condensate it is called wet gas.
