Natural Gas Liquids
Natural gas liquids are hydrocarbons that can be extracted from wet natural gas and liquefied under various combinations of pressure and temperature. NGLs consist primarily of:
- Ethane
- Propane
- Butane
- Natural gasolines
How it’s important to us
For many years, NGLs were simply tracked as part of the hydrocarbons produced from a well as part of its natural gas production. They were essentially considered a bonus and were not carefully allocated to individual wellheads independent of natural gas. In more recent years, NGLs have become recognized as more valuable and worth tracking individually. Many software packages are still struggling to keep up with the new NGL paradigm and are often patched or retrofitted to accommodate the growing need for tracking these liquids. The NGL content of gas is not measured at the wellhead, but rather becomes known after the gas in the pipeline goes through the processing facility. Since many wells contribute to the gas in the pipeline, allocation back is often tricky.
