Recent technological developments in extraction of heavy oil will help sustain the global oil demands. EOR and Heavy Oil Conference to be held in Abu Dhabi will discuss the latest developments in heavy oil and enhanced oil recovery.
Energy company Statoil from Norway has received approval from the British government to work on the development of the Mariner heavy oil field. With investments expected around US$ 7 billion, Statoil estimates the daily output from the oil field to be 55,000 barrels. The Mariner oil field was discovered in 1982 although back then processing the heavy oil was a challenge due to the lack of technological developments. This operation is the biggest in the North Sea and is expected to last for 30 years.
Middle East is believed to have 1000 billion barrels or about 20% of world heavy oil reserves that can be developed. Heavy oil resources are twice than that of conventional crude oil and Enhanced Oil Recovery - EOR holds the key to unlock the true potential of heavy oil reserves. A few years ago there was a lack of technology to develop heavy oil reserves, however, with major technological advancements companies are now embarking on heavy oil extraction and processing programmes.
Engineers at Saudi Aramco will be resuming work on the Manifa offshore oil field from March 2013 tapping into the vast heavy oil reserves. The initial development phase will yield 500,000 barrels per day of production with it being fully functional to a capacity of 900,000 barrels per day of production by 2014. The Manifa development team won the award for 'Innovative Oil Project of the Year' at the 2012 Middle East Oil and Gas Awards. A few years ago, the operations for Manifa were suspended due to massive technological challenges in extracting the heavy oil. With new developments in extraction of heavy oil, Manifa is back on the map and could be the main feedstock provider for Saudi Aramco's refineries.
The recent technological developments in heavy oil extraction will sustain the oil demands world over. The 2nd Annual Enhanced Oil Recovery and Heavy Oil Conference to be held on 27-28 March 2013 will gather global oil and gas experts to deliberate on the latest breakthroughs in the field of EOR and heavy oil. Key topics to be covered at the conference include strategic, financial and political considerations for EOR, heavy oil recovery techniques, building world class EOR capability in a resource constraint world, characterization and properties of heavy oil and many more.
Participating companies include Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Energy Systems, Maersk Oil & Gas, Water Standard, Hittite Solar Energy, Kuwait University, Qatar Shell Co. and Condor Petroleum Inc. among others.
Media contact:
Ajay Nimbalkar
Marketing Executive | Fleming Gulf
T : +971 4609 1570 | E : ajay.nimbalkar@fleminggulf.com
Event Link: http://www.fleminggulf.com/conferenceview/2nd-Annual-Enhanced-Oil-Recove...