Improved Oil Recovery Europe 2004 Conference, January 2004, O&G IQ, Aberdeen

Seventy participants, mostly from industry, braved a snowy Aberdeen during 28 and 29 January 2004 to attend O&G IQ's Improved Oil Recovery Europe 2004 Conference. So-Huu Do (s-h.do@shell.com) , Head of Faculty, Subsurface and Wells, Shell International Exploration and Production B.V chaired the conference. Here he summarises the key lessons to emerge from the deliberations.

Overall 14 papers were presented (two each from BP, Total, Statoil and Petrobras, one each from DTI, Dong, and Shell, with three papers from the academic sector). Associated with the conference were three one-day master classes (heavy oil recovery, miscible gas injection processes and cyclic waterflooding).

Two discussion sessions covered "forging a productive alliance between government and operator" and "people and processes for effective IOR project implementation".

Andy Carr, Head of Field Development, Northern North Sea, spoke about the steps being taken by the DTI to maintain activity on the UKCS through SHARP and the PILOT, "Promote" and "Data Access" initiatives. (Click for larger view)

Key Learning Points

• Unlikely there will be a blanket EOR tax credit similar to US in the UK sector. Individual projects will be considered on a case by case basis.
• Norwegian parliament is considering overall tax reduction for new developments on the Norwegian side of the North Sea (NS).
• Under current terms and conditions most potential EOR projects in the NS are uneconomic.
• Currently, successful IOR processes are water, thermal and gas (miscible and immiscible).
• Recent work on air injection for light oil shows potential promise, but no major field-wide applications yet.
• ConocoPhillips is funding research and study for air injection at Ekofisk (Rogaland Research).
• Economic success of MEOR is currently inconclusive.
• CO2 injection/sequestration in the NS will not be economic under current conditions without major investment in infrastructure which will require the participation of governments.
• Don't invest in all IOR processes. Focus investment in what you are good at.
• BP, Total and Statoil are investing in WAG-type projects.
• BP has significant operational and technical WAG experience from Prudhoe Bay.
• Statoil has a "Just do it!" mentality on WAG. Significant gains in production and reserves were attributed to WAG.
• CO2 injection in the NS will happen it's just a matter of time. But not economic under current terms and conditions (Dong).
• Petrobras show that future oil production in Brazil will be increasingly relying on lower API oil which will require thermal-type IOR processes.
• It was estimated that there is a potential of 1.6 trillion stb of heavy oil-in-place in Canada and possibly 300 billion stb is recoverable (Total).
• Potential applications of partial rather than full oxidation in in situ combustion to reduce risks of explosion and flame sustainability.
• 4D seismic surveys and their interpretation have demonstrated success both as reservoir management and development tools (Shell and Statoil).
• BP experience shows that low resisitivity (i.e. fresh) water use for injection leaves lower residual oil saturation to water in comparison with sea water injection.
• People Development: Both BP and Shell have mentorship programs to accelerate the development of new professionals.

Conference in Full Swing (Click for larger view)

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