Thermal Developments in Petroleum Development Oman's Southern Fields - An Update

The majority of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects are being executed in the the U.S., Canada, Venezuela, Indonesia and China. The volume of oil produced by EOR methods increased considerably from 1.2 MMBD in 1990 to 2.5 MMBD in 2006 (Sandrea and Sandrea 2007). Current total world oil production from EOR is approaching 3 MMBD representing about 3.5% of the daily global oil production (Sandrea and Sandrea 2007). Thermal and CO2 methods are the major contributors to EOR production, followed by hydrocarbon gas injection and chemical EOR. Other more esoteric methods, e.g., microbial, have only been field tested, without any significant quantities being produced on a commercial scale. In recent years, the number of EOR projects has increased with escalating oil prices. The number of EOR projects in the Middle East (ME) has also increased over the past decade. In some countries like Oman, there has been no choice but to implement EOR projects aggressively due to dwindling "easy oil." Other countries in the region have also started to think EOR, and are including them in their strategic short-, medium- and long-term development plans. Furthermore, there are many projects on the drawing board and appropriate screening studies and EOR pilots are being pursued region-wide. This paper reviews the current ME EOR projects from full-field development to field trials, including those on the drawing board. The option of advanced secondary recovery (ASR) — also known as improved oil recovery (IOR) — technologies before full-field deployment of EOR is also discussed. A case is made that they are a better first option before deployment of capital-intensive EOR projects. The ME’s general drive towards "ultimate" oil recovery — instead of immediate oil recovery — is highlighted in the context of EOR. Some of the enablers for EOR in the ME are also discussed in the paper. It highlights the opportunities and challenges of EOR specific to the region.

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Thermal Development of Thick Heavy Oil Fields: Phase II Development Options, Challenges and Solutions

Al-Hinai¹,

Wunnik²,

Thum³

et al. 2012

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A number of thermal developments are currently in execution in Oman. Two of these are located in South Oman and contain an exceptionally thick column (200m+) of heavy oil (200 to 400,000 cp) in Cambrian reservoirs at a depth of 1050 m below surface, underlain by a moderately strong aquifer. One of the fields has been in production for 20 years, the main production mechanisms are pressure depletion and natural ingress of aquifer water, while the other field has only produced a small amount by cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) trials due to the high viscosity of its heavy oil. For the next phase of development a vertical well pattern re-development is planned which will increase the ultimate recovery significantly, through a combination of cold production, CSS and steam flooding. The thickness of these reservoirs is unusually large for steamflooding and this poses both opportunities and challenges. There are no direct analogues and the industry practices of managing a steamflood in this specific setting is yet to be verified. Phase I deliberately addresses only the upper parts of the reservoirs while significant volumes are still to be matured in a future Phase II development. Following some higher level screening work of recovery mechanisms, the realistic development options for Phase II are innovative application of further steam flooding. Subsurface uncertainties are actively managed by different means; among them are the steam injection trials and steam pilot. The full field developments planned to start-up with Phase I in 2012 followed by Phase II in 2017. The paper will provide an overview of the proposed Phase II thermal development and specifically the innovative way development challenges are addressed. The integrated modeling work that yielded a better design of well completion strategies will be discussed. Additional topics addressed include minimising additional gas requirements through application of co-generation of electricity and steam (COGEN), water management and overall integrated project management.

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Thermal Developments in Petroleum Development Oman's Southern Fields - An Update

Cited by 6 publications

References 4 publications

Solar-generated steam for oil recovery: Reservoir simulation, economic analysis, and life cycle assessment

Solar-generated steam for oil recovery: Reservoir simulation, economic analysis, and life cycle assessment

EOR Potential in the Middle East: Current and Future Trends

Thermal Development of Thick Heavy Oil Fields: Phase II Development Options, Challenges and Solutions

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