In the ongoing AbuDhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference( ADIPEC - 2008 ), Val Brock, the Business Development Manager - EOR for Shell International Exploration and Production spoke about the use of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) to improve productivity of the oil fields especially the older ones. "EOR technology can improve recovery rates by 5 per cent to 20 per cent on average, depending on the reservoir. The EOR technology helps stop the decline of a producing field. It helps in extracting the oil trapped in rock pores." Brock said in a presentation.
A small excerpt from Wikipedia on how EOR is carried out. " Extraction is achieved by gas injection, chemical injection, or thermal recovery (which includes cyclic steam, steamflooding, and fireflooding). Gas injection is the most commonly used EOR technique. Here, gas such as carbon dioxide (CO2), natural gas, or nitrogen is injected into the reservoir whereupon it expands and thereby pushes additional oil to a production wellbore, and moreover dissolves in the oil to lower its viscosity and improves the flow rate of the oil.
Other techniques include thermal recovery (which uses heat to improve flow rates), and, more rarely, chemical injection, where polymers are injected to increase the effectiveness of waterfloods, or the use of detergent-like surfactants such as Rhamnolipids to help lower the capillary pressure that often prevents oil droplets from moving through a reservoir. "
Using EOR, 30-60 %, or more, of the reservoir's original oil can be extracted, compared with 20-40% using primary and secondary recovery. Though currently EOR is applied and giving satifactry results in places like Canada and Oman, very soon most of the oilfields which are past their prime may be resorting to EOR to continue production.
A small excerpt from Wikipedia on how EOR is carried out. " Extraction is achieved by gas injection, chemical injection, or thermal recovery (which includes cyclic steam, steamflooding, and fireflooding). Gas injection is the most commonly used EOR technique. Here, gas such as carbon dioxide (CO2), natural gas, or nitrogen is injected into the reservoir whereupon it expands and thereby pushes additional oil to a production wellbore, and moreover dissolves in the oil to lower its viscosity and improves the flow rate of the oil.
Other techniques include thermal recovery (which uses heat to improve flow rates), and, more rarely, chemical injection, where polymers are injected to increase the effectiveness of waterfloods, or the use of detergent-like surfactants such as Rhamnolipids to help lower the capillary pressure that often prevents oil droplets from moving through a reservoir. "
Using EOR, 30-60 %, or more, of the reservoir's original oil can be extracted, compared with 20-40% using primary and secondary recovery. Though currently EOR is applied and giving satifactry results in places like Canada and Oman, very soon most of the oilfields which are past their prime may be resorting to EOR to continue production.