There are major changes taking place within the energy production industry in the US. Multiple factors are driving these changes such as environmental regulations and the newly found abundance of natural gas.
The new environmental regulations have put tighter restrictions on pollutants and emissions from coal fired power plants which have led to many being decommissioned or converted to natural
gas fired operation. At the recent ðÌðElectric Power ConferenceðÌð held in Chicago the keynote speaker stated ðÌðit is virtually impossible to build new or add capacity to a coal fired plant todayðÌð.
The new abundance of natural gas being harvested form the various shale plays has lowered the price of gas to such a level that has become very attractive for the power industry. This low cost fuel and combined cycle technology will drive the industry for the next several decades. In fact current forecasts indicate that 80% of all new electric generating capacity between 2013 and
2035 will be combined cycle plants. It is estimated there are about 200 combined Cycle Power
Plants currently in front end engineering.
The news of more and more shale gas plays being discovered is also affecting the energy infra- structure in the US. Where the US was previously and importer of oil and gas we are now shifting the paradigm to that of an energy exporter. Additionally where we previously were flowing various energy products from refineries and import terminals in the gulf coast to various regions in the US, we are now looking at reversing the flow of these pipelines to take the gas and NGLs
from the various shale plays to the gulf refineries and convert the import terminals to export facilities.
As a result of all these changes, TM Filtration is gearing up for this explosion in growth to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the ðÌðnew gas industryðÌð. For example you will now see this catch phrase on the TM Filtration web page (www.tmfiltration.com) and in the next several weeks we will have a totally redesigned web site to address the gas market.
More importantly TM Filtration gas coalescing filters are now being used in the various ðÌðstreamsðÌð
of the new gas market. Our equipment is being used in custody transfer stations in the
mid-stream transmission from the shale wells. We are also providing our coalescing filters to be used on Fuel Gas Conditioning packages that will be used to clean the fuel gas to enhance the performance of the downstream gas turbine generators. The illustration below shows typical applications for TM Filtration gas filters.
We are continuing to gather as much information as we can with regard to the shale oil and gas industry. We will send out information on a periodic basis as we discover projects in your various sales territories. Potential customers for our products will be energy and power engineering design firms, exploration and production companies, midstream gathering and distribution companies, refineries and power generation plants, including Simple Cycle and Combined Cycle technology. Keep in mind the power plants will also have requirements for the Fluid Engineering line of strainer products for cooling tower, water make up, and steam condensate
recovery applications.
