What is the difference between crude oil and condensate?

Condensate is mostly composed of NGLs and naphtha range material, and has an API from 45 to 70+. Once separated from natural gas, condensate is generally treated like a crude oil. It can be blended with other heavier crude streams or sent to market directly by pipeline or tanker.

Then, is condensate and NGL the same?

In U.S. usage, a “plant condensate” is the equivalent of products classified as “pentanes+” and natural gasoline, and these are considered NGLs. On the other hand, U.S. usage typically does not consider “field or lease condensate” as an NGL, instead classifying these commodities as crude oil.

Beside above, what is condensate made of? Condensate is mainly composed of propane, butane, pentane and heavier hydrocarbon fractions. The condensate is not only generated into the reservoir, it is also formed when liquid drops out, or condenses, from a gas stream in pipelines or surface facilities.

Simply so, how is fuel different from crude oil?

Crude oil is a finite resource. Petrol and other fuels are produced from it using fractional distillation. Cracking is used to convert long alkanes into shorter, more useful hydrocarbons.

Is condensate dangerous?

Like all fossil fuels, condensate contains toxicants which are harmful to the environment, animals and humans. It is generally more flammable and explosive than normal crude oil. Whether escaped condensate causes an oil spill or not depends on whether it has vaporized, burnt off, or escaped in liquid form.

38 Related Question Answers Found

What is condensate used for?

Because condensate is typically liquid in ambient conditions and also has very low viscosity, condensate is often used to dilute highly viscous heavier oils that cannot otherwise be efficiently transported via pipelines.

What does condensate look like?

It looks like a dense little lump in the bottom of the magnetic trap/bowl; kind of like a drop of water condensing out of damp air onto a cold bowl. When it first forms, though, the condensate is still surrounded by the normal gas atoms, so it looks a bit like a pit inside a cherry.

Why is it called Y grade?

The story is that Y-grade got its name from an old Texas pipeline company that assigned different letters to the various products that they shipped. Y-grade was the designation for the natural gas liquids mix.

What does NGL stands for?

Not Gonna Lie

What is condensed water called?

Condensation is the change of water from its gaseous form (water vapor) into liquid water. Condensation generally occurs in the atmosphere when warm air rises, cools and looses its capacity to hold water vapor. As a result, excess water vapor condenses to form cloud droplets.

Is c2 ethane?

A type number such as “(C2)” next to each NGL denotes how many carbon atoms a molecule the NGL contains. The name and type number can be used interchangeably; for example, Ethane and C2, Propane and C3., etc.) Ethane (C2) – heavily used as a feedstock to produce ethylene.

What is condensate stabilization process?

Condensate stabilization is the process of increasing the amounts of the intermediate constituents (C3 to C5 hydrocarbon derivatives) and higher molecular weight constituents (C6 and C6+ hydrocarbon derivatives) in the condensate.

What is iC4 and nC4?

Butane or Field Butane - is a hydrocarbon component mix of NGL and is used in numerous applications with the petrochemical industry, gasoline or oil additive. Butane from most fractionation facilities is a mix of normal butane (nC4) and iso butane (iC4), called field butane.

Why is crude oil not used as a fuel?

Crude oil is a mixture of long chain and small chain hydrocarbons, which are only useful when used separately. The long chain hydrocarbons, having higher boiling point, higher flash point, and high viscosity are difficult to ignite and can not be used as a fuel, but are useful as a lubricant.

What are 10 different petroleum products that come from crude oil?

Products made from crude oil

These petroleum products include gasoline, distillates such as diesel fuel and heating oil, jet fuel, petrochemical feedstocks, waxes, lubricating oils, and asphalt.

Where is crude oil mainly found?

Petroleum—or crude oil—is a fossil fuel that is found in large quantities beneath the Earth's surface and is often used as a fuel or raw material in the chemical industry. It is a smelly, yellow-to-black liquid and is usually found in underground areas called reservoirs.

Why does crude oil need to be separated?

The substances in crude oil can be separated using fractional distillation because they have different boiling points. The crude oil is evaporated and its vapors allowed to condense at different temperatures in the fractionating column. Each fraction contains hydrocarbon molecules with a similar number of carbon atoms.

What is crude oil mostly made of?

Crude oil is a mixture of comparatively volatile liquid hydrocarbons (compounds composed mainly of hydrogen and carbon), though it also contains some nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen.

Is kerosene made from crude oil?

Kerosene is an oil distillate commonly used as a fuel or solvent. It is a thin, clear liquid consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons that boil between 302°F and 527°F (150°C and 275°C). While kerosene can be extracted from coal, oil shale, and wood, it is primarily derived from refined petroleum.

Why is crude oil so useful?

Crude oil contains many substances which are useful to us. These substances are separated by fractional distillation. Crude oil and natural gas, on the other hand, can be removed from beneath the surface, piped to storage tanks and processed into things we use. Hydrocarbons with small molecules make good fuels.

How do you separate crude oil?

Crude oil is separated by fractional distillation. Crude oil is heated to vaporize the different hydrocarbons in a tank which is cool at the top and hot at the bottom. The vapours then rise and the different hydrocarbons condense at their specific boiling points, allowing them to be separated.

Is jet fuel made from crude oil?

Jet fuels are primarily derived from crude oil, the common name for liquid petroleum. Jet fuels are typically made by blending and refining various crude oil petroleum distillation products such as naphtha, gasoline, or kerosene in order to meet specific military or commercial specifications (Air Force 1989b).