Extended oil recovery (EOR) from the North Sea based on the use of low salinity seawater is the subject of the latest call to the offshore community by the Aberdeen-based Industry Technology Facilitator.
ITF’s call is a response to pressure on the industry from the PILOT Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Workgroup, which is led by BP with support from Taqa, Nexen, CNR International, Talisman and other operators.
Specifically, says the facilitator, the EOR Workgroup is seeking to progress the application of a low salinity enhanced oil recovery (low salinity EOR) technique to a range of existing field developments across the Central, Northern and Moray Firth areas of the UK Continental Shelf.
The technique involves the injection of low salinity water into an already water flooded reservoir. BP is a big champion of this approach; indeed the super-major is incorporating provision for Lo-Sal in its Clair Ridge development.
Screening studies commissioned by the grouping point to a significant prize with potential increased reservoir recovery rates of between 2% and 12%.
In simple language, this equates to billions of barrels potential from existing fields that might otherwise be left deep beneath the North Sea.
“The extent of the additional recoverable oil means that support for the deployment of the technology is being encouraged at managing director level within the UK oil and gas operators,” writes ITF CEO Paddy O’Brien in his invitation to submit dated August 12.
He says the workgroup now wants to fund relevant technology development projects that cover the provision of process facilities to produce low salinity water offshore on existing production units.
“A key technology challenge will be to reduce weight and size of these low salinity facilities,” says O’Brien.
The workgroup has asked ITF to trawl the market for interest that can be translated into proposals for research, development and/or fields trials of low salinity technologies that could be retrofitted to production units.
If successful, it is anticipated that the operators within the PILOT EOR will award technology development projects with planned kick-off for these projects in Q1 next year.
For now, O’Brien and his team are looking for expressions of interest. It is expected that selected companies will be invited to present their detailed proposals to an EOR Workgroup panel at Technical Clarification Meetings to be facilitated by ITF in Q4 this year.