Natural gas from the well contains significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which must be removed to produce pipeline quality gas. A typical gas cleaning plant uses a recirculating alkanolamine solvent to remove both H2S and CO2. The solvent circulation rate has been estimated to be 2.2 gallons per thousand standard cubic feet (Mscf) of natural gas. The solvent is regenerated using low-pressure steam at a rate of 1.3 lb of steam per gallon of solvent. The solvent is pumped from the regenerator pressure of 1.5 bar gauge to the absorber pressure of 60 bar gauge. The annual cost of solvent make-up for a 50 million scf/d plant is $125,000. If fuel gas costs $6/MMBtu and electricity costs $0.05/kWh, estimate the variable cost per scf of natural gas.