Future Prospects for Thermal EOR | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
“Rigzone” recently published a three part series of articles on Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) the first two segments dealt with CO2 and Chemical EOR. This third and final installment, written by Matthew Jones with the research firm Visiongain, deals with Thermal EOR.
Thermal EOR involves the introduction of heat (typically steam) into a reservoir to reduce the viscosity of the oil and facilitate its movement to the well bore for extraction. Traditionally water has been turned to steam by burning natural gas. However, a new technology is emerging in which water in tubes is heated by solar energy prior to injection.
Gas-fired EOR has been in use for decades with successful projects in the U.S., Canada, Venezuela, Oman, China and Indonesia. However, these traditional projects require high crude oil prices and low natural gas prices to remain economically viable. Nevertheless, the latest application of this technology is Canadian oil sands.
Oil sands can be mined down to a depth of 650’. To produce at lower depths thermal methods are being utilized. A wave of new projects is scheduled to come on line in 2015 and 2016. Falling oil prices could compromise the viability of some of these. Nevertheless, with more than 160 initiatives either under construction, approved or announced gas-fired EOR will make a significant contribution toward oil sands development.
Opportunities for solar EOR are greatest in the Middle East. Given the region’s abundant heavy oil reserves, plentiful sunlight and increasingly constrained natural gas supplies, this should come as no surprise. A solar EOR facility is already operational in the Amal West field in Oman, and other reservoirs in Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia appear to be good candidates for the technology. Closer to home, a solar EOR project has been operational in Kern County, California since 2011.
Currently Thermal EOR accounts for 2 million barrels of oil per day of production. These projects are sensitive to falling oil prices and rising gas demand. However, Canadian oil sands and Middle Eastern reservoirs look like promising new frontiers for an established technology.
To read the article in its entirety, please go to www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?hpf=1&a_id=135688&utm .
