With energy demand growing and oil supplies expected to remain flat, the need for the upstream industry to maintain current production levels is set to be one of its biggest challenges.

The development and use of EOR techniques to help sustain oil production levels is a key part of the industry’s efforts to overcome this challenge. According to BP’s Chris Reddick at PETEX 2012, only around 3.5% of global oil production today comes from EOR projects. “A lot of effort is needed to improve that.”

Within BP, the company’s equivalent figure for EOR-related production on a gross basis is about 100,000 b/d, with the company’s goal being to increase the EOR percentage.

Reddick said BP’s global hydrocarbon portfolio contains a significant proportion of oil resources, which are the target of EOR techniques the company is developing. These are focused on improving both pore-scale displacement as well as sweep efficiency, he told delegates at PETEX.

In his paper, “At-Scale Deployment of EOR in BP,” Reddick outlined the operator’s approach in screening, evaluating, testing, and applying these techniques. This includes:
• Analysis of resources using a reservoir technical limits process to identify the most leveraging recovery processes and its targets;
• Laboratory scale tests, often using innovative experimental methods to assess recovery process performance;
• Centrally funded field trials to prove the effectiveness of the process at the interwell scale; and
• Centrally supported deployment support for programmed take-up across the company.

Reddick highlighted some of the main challenges associated with securing take-up of EOR technologies, and how they can be addressed.

These include developing a balanced view of the uncertainty of reservoir performance for new recovery processes, ensuring the consideration of EOR possibilities early in a project’s life cycle so that facilities and other infrastructure can be designed from the start, and managing project and operations risk for new facilities systems.

Highlighting a focus on deployment, Reddick said BP has had to adapt its stance on EOR to meet the need of its portfolio.

“EOR methods that complement waterflooding are an area we are focusing on,” he said.

Reddick also flagged the issue of getting EOR into a project’s life cycle earlier in the process as a key area. “If we can apply it earlier in the life of a field, we can get more oil out of the field.”

He also said that BP and the wider industry still need to “broaden the applicability of EOR solutions,” as well as accelerate the development cycle time for those solutions.

One example of the successful evaluation and early take-up of this kind of technology within BP is its LoSal EOR waterflooding and sweep-enhancing polymer treatments, both of which are part of the company’s Designer Water suite of EOR technologies.

Another major, Shell, highlighted the need to focus on new exploration technologies. During the Emerging Exploration Provinces session, Mark Hempton spoke about the importance of recognizing technology as a differentiation in exploration success.

“Technology reduces risk, reduces costs, and enhances safety. And it gives a competitive edge,” he said.

Hempton highlighted three challenges that require the rapid development and deployment of new technology: improved seismic imaging, improved reservoir prediction, and top-quartile drilling.

Improved seismic imaging has had more effect on exploration than any other challenge in the last three decades, and there is still considerable room for improvement, Hempton said.

He also flagged Shell’s efforts with regard to top-quartile drilling, in particular to lower drilling costs, thus lowering the economic threshold of smaller, marginal prospects and expanding the drillable portfolio.

Collaborations with drilling contractors have yielded innovative solutions such as the company’s Bully rig and Swift 10 rig programs.

Another theme is to improve the ability to drill extended-reach wells from existing infrastructure to access targets previously inaccessible or uneconomical via conventional wells. Recently, extended reach drilling (ERD) wells by Shell have set records for deepwater ERD, reverse-angle ERD, and upside-down completions.

Contact the author, Mark Thomas, at mthomas@hartenergy.com.

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