Engineering
As the emerging economies of countries such as India and China continue to grow at a frantic pace, so does their demand for oil. Yet the most easily accessible stocks of this resource are running low. Some analysts, such as the US Energy Information Administration, even believe that world production has passed its peak. Whereas ten years ago oil prices stood at around €7 a barrel, they are now more than 10 times that.
As a result, reserves that were previously too expensive to exploit particularly those trapped under the ice and snow of
EOR explained
EOR can be divided into three main families: Thermal, Miscible Gas, and Chemical. The approach applied to an oilfield depends on the problems faced by those attempting extraction.
In thermal EOR, the focus is on heating the oil in the reservoir to reduce its viscosity and enable it to flow easier to the producing wells. The technique is currently being used by Bankers Petroleum to breathe new life into formerly state-owned oil fields in
Miscible gas EOR involves a gas such as carbon dioxide being injected into a well to force out remaining oil. If the gas can be left behind and the well capped, the process also provides an underground storage solution for greenhouse gasses while at the same time helping get more barrels of oil out of the ground.
The British Geological Survey has estimated the potential storage capacity under the whole of the
Chemical EOR is the least mature of the EOR technology groups, but it also offers great promise, explains Val Brock, Business Development Manager EOR, Shell International Exploration and
The other type of chemical EOR is the use of surfactants to break down the interfacial tension between oil and water that traps a portion of the oil in the underground reservoirs, Brock continues. Shell is working to deploy this technology in several fields in the near to mid term.
Organic methods
Meanwhile, BP is investing in research into advanced biotechnology in an attempt to use microbes that occur in wells to help drive out oil. At present, the microbes live in a nutrient-poor environment. By providing them with the right nutrients to grow in a certain way, scientists at the company believe they could be encouraged to break down heavy oil for easier extraction or produce surfactants in the reservoir, rather than the operator having to inject vast volumes of chemicals.
Currently, some four per cent of global production comes from the three families of enhanced oil recovery techniques. The International Energy Agency forecasts that this number will grow to some 20 per cent by 2030. This growth will be dependant on a number of factors including price, technology, and competitive energy alternatives influenced by socio-political issues, says Brock. It is clear though, that EOR is seen as a key part of meeting the worlds future demand for energy in the coming decades. In response, Shell has increased its investment in EOR research by 10 fold over the last five years. We intend that EOR will be contributing some 10 per cent of Shells overall production in the coming decade, Brock adds.
Capturing CO2
Rehan Naqvi is a Senior Process Engineer CO2 for Shell Global Solutions and is based in the
These projects have a twofold advantage; demonstrating that CO2 capture from power plants is feasible and possible, with the potential to pave the way for CO2 capture implementation in large industrial projects worldwide, while simultaneously producing difficult barrels, which otherwise would be very difficult to extract, he says. Such projects can result in a sustainable energy supply with the additional benefit of carbon emissions reduction. The produced oil makes CO2 capture more economical compared to pure capture and sequestration. I believe that carbon capture and sequestration could have an important part to play in the future energy equation in a carbon constrained world which is set to continue to heavily relying on fossil fuels, he continues. Successful projects have the potential to add value to the worlds efforts to develop technologies to make traditional energy more sustainable.
The company is working with
With revenues from current oil production being at a historic high and demand showing no sign of slowing, the driving force to discover new technologies that can squeeze as much oil out of reserves as possible is very strong. By also developing systems that reduce the environmental impact of extracting and burning fossil resources, EORs future looks very bright indeed.
About the author
Julia Pierce is a London-based science journalist. She has previously written on the topic of energy and renewables for publications including New Scientist, The Engineer and Horizon.
Did You know?
The BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2007 predicts that oil reserves in the Middle East will last 79.5 years, Latin America 41.2 years and North America just 12 years
The petroleum industry is generally divided into upstream producers which find and pump the oil, and downstream transporters, that distribute and consume it
Website-Links
BP www.bp.com
Shell www.shell.com
Statoil http://www.statoilhydro.com/en/Pages/default.aspx
British Geological Survey www..bgs.ac.uk/
Bankers Petroleum http://www.bankerspetroleum.com/s/Home.asp
