17 June 2015
MUSCAT: The share of natural gas diverted for Enhanced Oil Recovery operations in the Sultanate jumped to 19 per cent of total gas supply in 2014, up from 17 per cent in 2013 -- an uptick that underscores the growing contribution of EOR to Oman's oil production. However, the trend is also fuelling debate over whether these volumes of gas can be better utilized as a resource for power generation, water desalination, petrochemical processing and industry.
Of the approximately 16.18 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas handled by Oman Gas Company's (OGC) countrywide gas transportation network during 2014, around 3.07 bcm was utilized to power oil operations. The lion's share, amounting to 8.57 bcm (53 per cent), was earmarked for meeting the Sultanate's growing demand for electricity and desalinated water. The remainder 5.01 bcm (31 per cent) was used as fuel and feedstock in the country's burgeoning industrial and petrochemical sector.
Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and Occidental of Oman (Oxy) both require significant volumes of natural gas to generate steam for their thermal EOR operations. Much of this consumption takes place in oilfields where the targeted reservoir in question contains heavy and viscous oil, which requires massive quantities of steam to be injected at high pressure into the reservoir in order to make the oil flow towards producer wells.
According to recent media reports, the Ministry of Oil and Gas is keen for both PDO and Oxy -- the largest producers of oil based on thermal EOR -- to consider alternatives to natural gas as the dominant fuel for their steam injection activities. Oxy, the operator of the Mukhaizna heavy oil field (Block 53), also depends on natural gas for this thermal EOR project.
PDO, for its part, has successfully piloted the use of solar energy for steam generation at its Amal heavy oil field in collaboration with a US-based solar technology solutions provider.
The pilot, which generates an average of 50 tonnes of steam daily, is already contributing to significant savings in natural gas with PDO and other stakeholders weighing a ramp up solar-based steam generation capacity to power its heavy operations.
Last year's increase in gas volumes utilized for thermal EOR operations is the most significant in many years, say industry observers. The share of gas for oil operations has typically averaged 16 -17 per cent since 2010, but spiked to 19 per cent in 2014, according to figures obtained from OGC. Gas volumes handled by the wholly government-owned gas transportation utility have also ballooned during this period, from around 12.5 bcm in 2010 to 16.18 bcm last year.
According to a report by global consultancy services firm EY, around 35 per cent of total oil output in the Sultanate -- equivalent to 370,000 barrels a day -- will come from steam-flooding involving the use of natural gas by the year 2020.
The report, published last year, however concludes that full-scale deployment of solar-based steam generation could create up to 212,400 permanent jobs, release more than half a billion cubic feet of gas per day by the end of 2023, and contribute more than $12 billion to Omani GDP over the next decade.
MUSCAT: The share of natural gas diverted for Enhanced Oil Recovery operations in the Sultanate jumped to 19 per cent of total gas supply in 2014, up from 17 per cent in 2013 -- an uptick that underscores the growing contribution of EOR to Oman's oil production. However, the trend is also fuelling debate over whether these volumes of gas can be better utilized as a resource for power generation, water desalination, petrochemical processing and industry.
Of the approximately 16.18 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas handled by Oman Gas Company's (OGC) countrywide gas transportation network during 2014, around 3.07 bcm was utilized to power oil operations. The lion's share, amounting to 8.57 bcm (53 per cent), was earmarked for meeting the Sultanate's growing demand for electricity and desalinated water. The remainder 5.01 bcm (31 per cent) was used as fuel and feedstock in the country's burgeoning industrial and petrochemical sector.
Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and Occidental of Oman (Oxy) both require significant volumes of natural gas to generate steam for their thermal EOR operations. Much of this consumption takes place in oilfields where the targeted reservoir in question contains heavy and viscous oil, which requires massive quantities of steam to be injected at high pressure into the reservoir in order to make the oil flow towards producer wells.
According to recent media reports, the Ministry of Oil and Gas is keen for both PDO and Oxy -- the largest producers of oil based on thermal EOR -- to consider alternatives to natural gas as the dominant fuel for their steam injection activities. Oxy, the operator of the Mukhaizna heavy oil field (Block 53), also depends on natural gas for this thermal EOR project.
PDO, for its part, has successfully piloted the use of solar energy for steam generation at its Amal heavy oil field in collaboration with a US-based solar technology solutions provider.
The pilot, which generates an average of 50 tonnes of steam daily, is already contributing to significant savings in natural gas with PDO and other stakeholders weighing a ramp up solar-based steam generation capacity to power its heavy operations.
Last year's increase in gas volumes utilized for thermal EOR operations is the most significant in many years, say industry observers. The share of gas for oil operations has typically averaged 16 -17 per cent since 2010, but spiked to 19 per cent in 2014, according to figures obtained from OGC. Gas volumes handled by the wholly government-owned gas transportation utility have also ballooned during this period, from around 12.5 bcm in 2010 to 16.18 bcm last year.
According to a report by global consultancy services firm EY, around 35 per cent of total oil output in the Sultanate -- equivalent to 370,000 barrels a day -- will come from steam-flooding involving the use of natural gas by the year 2020.
The report, published last year, however concludes that full-scale deployment of solar-based steam generation could create up to 212,400 permanent jobs, release more than half a billion cubic feet of gas per day by the end of 2023, and contribute more than $12 billion to Omani GDP over the next decade.
© Oman Daily Observer 2015
