After natural gas is produced at the well, piping is connected to the wellhead so the gas can flow to a lease facility where it is partially processed. At these facilities condensate and water are separated from the gas. Condensate is an oil-like hydrocarbon that is in a vapor or gaseous state at reservoir temperature and pressure but is a liquid at surface temperature and pressure. Condensate is sold separately from the gas. And for associated gas wells, oil and gas are separated. The gas is then metered as it leaves the lease facilities to allow royalties to be paid to each leaseholder. From the lease facility, the gas is transported through a small pipeline called a gathering system. A typical gathering system may link scores of individual lease facilities or multiple fields through hundreds of miles of gathering lines.
A typical lease facility will include some or all of the following components:
- Wellheads, which include valves and or/chokes to control flow and pressure (or these may be located remote from the lease facility with the gas piped to it)
- The manifold that connects to the gathering system
- A meter that measures the flow from each well
- Separators that separate water, condensate, oil, and gas
- Tanks to hold oil and water for shipping or disposal
- Utility systems that provide the needed power to run the lease facility (this may be from a utility grid, or may be produced locally)
- Monitoring and communications equipment that allows remote monitoring and/or control of the well