Boston, MA 09/11/2014 (wallstreetpr) – General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) and Ferus Natural Gas Fuels joint venture, together with Statoil Exploration Co (NASDAQ:BEXP) have joined hands to explore expansion of a pilot project in order to arrest flare gas. After being captured, the flare gas shall be used for powering around six drill rigs of Statoil and a fleet situated in North Dakota.
About The Last Mile Pilot Project
The Last Mile was started off eight months ago in North Dakota near Watford City. This is for the first time that Statoil has taken any step in fully adopting the Ferus-GE JV’s Last Mile, which in turn will help in bringing down emissions. Apart from this, Statoil Exploration Co (NASDAQ:BEXP) will enjoy various other advantages through this and some of the benefits include, cost saving as well as logistic solutions for Bakken oilfield operation.
All this while, the company was arresting natural gas rather than flaring it, and was using it for power of gas and oil operations. The commercial expansion that Statoil is planning with General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) and Ferus, now will help in increasing the capturing capacity of flare gas to approximately 3 to up to 5 million scfd (standard cubic feet per day). All this will happen by the end of the present year and will also help in reducing the GHG emissions between 120,000 to up to 200,000 metric tons annually.
Profit and Climate Benefit to Statoil
The Vice President of Statoil’s Bakken production and development, Lance Langford said that the Last Mile will help the company in abiding by the flaring regulations of North Dakota. At the same time, he said, this will lead to reduced costs and emissions, resulting in more profit and better climate. Mr. Langford said that Ferus NGF-GE’s new innovative solution has enabled Statoil Exploration Co (NASDAQ:BEXP) to take up this initiative of moving from pilot operations to fully-fledged commercial ones.
