All set to ramp up production from Harweel
MUSCAT -- Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the country's flagship oil and gas producer, is gearing up for a significant increase in output from its Harweel miscible gas injection project.
The scheme, one of a handful of world-scale enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects that came on stream last year, was launched last April with an initial production of some 25,000 barrels per day. An "extensive ramp-up" in output is planned by the end of Q1 2013, the majority-government owned company stated in highlights of its performance during 2012.
A spike in output from Harweel is critical to PDO's goal of incrementally boosting the share of crude output from its EOR schemes as a proportion of its total output. At present, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects account for around 3 per cent of the company's evolving portfolio. This figure is projected to soar to 16 per cent by 2016 and 27 per cent by 2021.
A global pioneer in tertiary recovery programmes, PDO currently has a total of six EOR trials in operation or in various stages of engineering execution. These initiatives aim to harness hydrocarbons often trapped at depths of up to 6 kilometres, according to the company.
Emphasising the company's strategy for sustaining production through the use of tertiary and other unconventional projects, Raoul Restucci, Managing Director, said: "Our commitment remains to deliver stable and sustainable oil and gas production and value for Omani citizens and our shareholders. However, the nature of our maturing hydrocarbon portfolio means we will continue to rely less on conventional projects and more on complex, technically demanding EOR developments or 'sour' schemes, namely those involving the delivery of oil and gas containing hydrogen sulphide.
"Of course, this challenge involves extra investment, resources and technical know-how and so there will be a renewed focus on safety, cost control, capability development and the recruitment and retention of staff with the requisite skill sets," he added.
In fact, 2012 was a watershed year for PDO's multibillion dollar tertiary recovery programme, with two major EOR schemes coming on stream last year. In March, a ground-breaking EOR initiative based on a thermally assisted gas oil gravity drainage recovery mechanism was put into operation at Qarn Alam. It marked the first time that the technique was successfully deployed in a carbonate field anywhere in the world, says PDO.
Equally landmark was the commissioning last December of a pilot solar steam generation project that, it is hoped, will eventually help drive a thermal EOR scheme to extract heavy oil at Amal West. The pilot project, which has since started producing steam, has been integrated into existing steam facilities at Amal West.
Its performance will be monitored over a 12-month period before a decision is taken to potentially upsize the facility into a full-scale solar-based thermal EOR venture.
At the same time, PDO is making excellent headway in the construction and commissioning of a unique chemical injection trial at Habhab in the south of its Block 6 concession.
The trial could help unlock an estimated 2.4 billion barrels of heavy oil in the field, originally discovered in 1982 but never developed for want of suitable technological solutions to produce this resource. The Habhab facility is expected to come on stream shortly, potentially also paving the way for the use of this technique to boost yields from other complex and tight reservoirs, says PDO.
© Oman Daily Observer 2013
