What is Condensate? A Closer Look at this Important Shale Hydrocarbon

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From time to time MDN mentions condensate. What, exactly, is condensate? We’ve seen it described as a “light” form of crude oil. Condensate is an important component of what comes out of wells drilled in southwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. Condensate can be sold for a higher price that plain old natural gas molecules. As we’ve often written, when you sink a hole in the ground looking for one hydrocarbon, like oil or gas, you get other hydrocarbons out of the ground along with it. Natural gas (methane) comes out of holes drilled looking for oil, and the reverse. And just about all of the holes drilled get some form of natural gas liquids–including ethane, pentane, butane and propane. So where does condensate sit in the constellation of hydrocarbons? Is it closer to crude oil? Or closer to natural gas and NGLs? Two ships collided in the East China Sea over the weekend–one of them loaded with condensate. The ship exploded and all 32 souls on that ship died in the blaze or are lost at sea. So Reuters posted an article to explain just what the heck condensate is. We found the article useful for our own understanding, and thought you might too…

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