Houston, TX (1888PressRelease)
April 24, 2008 - Opponents of an early oil production peak tend to counter those who believe ‘peak oil’ is imminent with two straightforward arguments – simple economics and advanced technology. As we move forwards increasing oil prices and improving know-how will, they say, allow us to exploit resources which had previously been impossible or uneconomic to recover.
Oil prices are now setting new records almost daily and are pushing ever closer to the $120 / barrel mark, a figure that would have made many laugh out loud towards the end of the 1990s. With isolated recovery factors of approaching 70% resulting from advanced IOR and EOR techniques in certain regions, the Norwegian Continental Shelf for instance, it certainly seems that the technology is coming on in leaps and bounds as well.
It is, however, early days. We’re at the dawn of a new era in the Oil & Gas industry, an era in which unconventional resources and frontier exploration will play their part but IOR will be key. The world is only just beginning to come to terms with oil prices of well above $100 and change is afoot. Most Research & Development programs with a focus on improving recovery were abandoned at the end of the last century when oil bottomed out at around $10 / barrel. If we are to see recovery factors and production levels grow in existing fields, as indeed we must, IOR is going to have to quickly ascend the agenda once again.
Already this is exactly what is beginning to happen. Interest in collaborative efforts such as COREC in Norway and the EORI in the United States is growing, most majors are beginning to refocus their in-house R&D appropriately, and specific new job titles such as the unambiguous ‘EOR Manager’ are starting to emerge. More and more fields are reaching conventional maturity and in turn secondary and tertiary recovery methods are fast becoming the norm, not the exception.
The entire business ethos is even changing at some organizations – BP for instance have declared their intention to become not only the world’s finest explorer but also ‘the world’s greatest recoverer’. Many see that as a direct attempt to bridge the performance gap with Shell who enjoyed a hugely successful 2007, itself partly the result of moves to stem falling oil production by the corporation. As van der Veer himself has said, “Shell is rejuvenating its portfolio for a world of higher and more volatile commodity prices, increased competition and higher costs.”
The first steps towards effective IOR do not even require significant investment. Good project management and the optimization of current recovery methods can in itself lead to a significant upturn in production. Beyond that techniques for improving recovery become progressively more complex and costly but with oil prices as they are a substantial ROI can be achieved from all but the most extravagant of approaches.
This is an area which requires attention from everyone operating in the upstream Oil & Gas sector. There’s so much we still haven’t got quite right but the imperative for change, at least, is now clear. To help you keep abreast of major technical and commercial IOR developments around the world please take advantage of the following free news service:EyeforEnergy IOR Newsletter - [http://www.eyeforenergy.com/oior/newsletter.shtml]
Contact Information:
Christopher J. Morris
Director
EyeforEnergy
t. UK - 44 (0) 207 375 7167
t. US - 1800 814 3459 ext 360
e. cmorris ( @ ) eyeforenergy dot com
w. www.eyeforenergy.com
###
