Analyzing the Start of a Safe and Profitable Operation

Q: What added value does Agilent provide to an open market like that in Mexico?

A: Agilent’s oil and gas operations in Mexico are very important for the company’s entire business. In Mexico, just as in the rest of the world, meeting the increasing need for energy is a big challenge. Regulatory requirements, efficiency improvements dictated by pressure resulting from low oil prices and good environmental stewardship impose even tougher demands on the industry. Agilent Technologies provides in Mexico, and around the world, custom or standard analyzers configured to its customers’ specific chemical analysis applications, whether they need to quickly obtain detailed speciation of a complex hydrocarbons stream, precisely calculate gas calorific values in the field, assess the efficiency of their fuel cell stack or analyze a new biofuel formulation. Agilent has custom methods and solutions for every specific need.

Agilent has a local infrastructure to respond to the current needs and requirements of our customers. Even if the requirement is to show double-digit growth in a very short period of time, we have the support of other Agilent organizations around the world to meet those requirements.

Q: How does Agilent ensure its technologies and services comply with the highest standards?

A: For over 40 years, Agilent has collaborated with organizations such as ASTM, ISO and CEN to develop new standards for oil, fuel and lubricants. This means we are in a unique position to develop integral and innovative solutions so that our clients’ workflow is productive and in accordance with the regulations. Agilent offers the most complete range of solutions for the industry, such as the most advanced and reliable gas chromatographs and mobile micro GC biogas analyzers, FTIR analyzers and the most complete atomic spectroscopy portfolio. Our product and application experts work with customers to achieve the highest productivity and profitability for their labs, while meeting the industry’s stringent quality requirements.

Q: What questions are most frequently asked by Agilent’s clients in Mexico?

A: In Mexico, as in the rest of the world, the main topics and more frequently asked questions are: How can we face the challenge of an increasing need for energy? What are the main regulatory requirements our company will face? How can we improve efficiency considering the pressure coming from a downward slope in prices? How can the increased demand for energy be faced with good environmental stewardship?

Our answer is always that Agilent Technologies provides custom or standard analyzers configured for specific chemical analysis applications, whether they are needed to quickly obtain detailed speciation of a complex hydrocarbons stream, precisely calculate gas calorific values in the field, assess efficiency of a fuel cell’s stack or analyze a new bio-fuel formulation. No matter the requirement, Agilent has custom methods and solutions for every specific need. Our products and applications experts work with our clients to achieve the highest productivity and profitability for their labs, while meeting the industry’s stringent quality requirements.

Q: Why is the use of gas analyzers important for the Mexican oil and gas industry?

A: Natural gas is a mixture of methane, other hydrocarbons and small amounts of impurities. The hydraulic fracturing of shale formations is driving significant growth in the global natural gas market as new technologies and processes make production more efficient. Nevertheless, the value of the gas during trading is determined by its chemical composition and before natural gas can be sold it is required to meet specifications for calorific value and purity. For the gas to reach desired specifications, an array of precise analytical processes is required during collection, processing, transmission and distribution, and these methods must be performed efficiently and to the required levels of sensitivity.

To meet these challenges, Agilent provides a range of preconfigured and chemically-tested analyzers for laboratory, at-line and for field evaluation of natural gas, natural gas liquids and the by-products resulting from natural gas processing. All the equipment is enhanced and supported by a range of advanced sample prep and software solutions. In addition, our instruments enable the characterization of production by-products, such as ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes and hydrogen sulfide, which must occur prior to use in downstream processes. Agilent GC and micro GC natural gas analyzers also measure permanent gases and hydrocarbon content and can perform extended analysis of heavier hydrocarbons, allowing the client to quickly and reliably monitor production processes.

Q: What have been the leading contributions of Agilent’s Excellence Center in Mexico?

A: Like every Agilent Center of Excellence around the world, Agilent’s Center of Excellence in Mexico has been planned and developed so that customers in Mexico and Latin America can evaluate methods and applications with real samples. In addition, they can also acquire the necessary knowledge to implement it in their laboratories, which offers them a huge advantage and allows for a highly-efficient methodological transition that is then reflected in a much faster and safer return on investment. 

Our Center of Excellence in Mexico gives us the opportunity to show our customers the latest in technology for real sample analysis. Our customers have the possibility to talk with our scientific team about the requirements in the sample analysis and to discuss other analytical problems that they may have in their laboratories to then work together and find solutions to all these situations.

This capability allows our customers to have a faster ROI. The Center of Excellence becomes then a solid partner for success. Many other activities customized to specific needs such as presentations, technology demonstrations, training and sample analysis are some of the activities that the Center of Excellence can provide with a focus on innovation and delivering trusted answers that advance the quality of the analysis results.

Q: What are the advantages of Agilent’s technologies on bio and renewable fuels?

A: Biofuels are produced from a wide range of sources, including corn, algae, cellulose and methane produced from micro-organisms, each offering many environmental advantages. However, purity can be a challenge and long-term storage of some fuels can promote biological growth and oxidative degradation.

Using blended fuels in engines designed for petroleumbased diesel can also cause problems with injector pumps and other components. ASTM and CEN standards define methods for determining biodiesel in diesel fuel. Likewise, stability concerns have prompted some industries to lower their biodiesel limits for fuel blends. To meet these varying requirements, companies must reliably verify blend quality and biodiesel content.

Agilent provides, like no other company, the most innovative solutions to best handle these challenges, from the robust GC biodiesel analyzer to more compact, portable systems, such as the mobile 490 micro GC biogas analyzer, the portable 4500 FTIR analyzer and the compact 5500 FTIR analyzer ideally suited for field labs.