The recent volatility in the global energy market and the effects of declining oil prices have prompted oil and gas players that are faced with budget constraints to seek new, more efficient techniques that will maximise resources deployed in the enhanced oil recovery process.
While the potential for polymer flooding in the Middle East is immense, the region has significant reserves in tight carbonate formations [for which it has] proved difficult to implement polymer-based EOR.
Reservoir conditions – such as natural fractures in the reservoir rock or resistance from heavier or more viscous oils – can cause traditional water flooding to be less effective in injection operations.
High temperature inside the reservoirs can lead to the degradation of many traditional chemicals used in EOR, while high connate water salt concentration causes issues of compatibility with EOR chemicals.
The structure of carbon formations can often be the main obstacle in implementing EOR in the region. Rock surfaces of carbonates have a tendency to prefer contact to oil in the wetting phase, whereas rock surfaces of sandstone reservoirs prefer contact to water. This makes EOR applications more difficult and requires advanced physical and chemical research to enhance the oil recovery process.
Furthermore, EOR programmes almost always require a displacement fluid – most often water, but also supercritical carbon dioxide. Much of the region suffers freshwater scarcity and projects must incorporate water treatment for injection and produced-water treatment.
Adding to the geological challenges of the implementation of EOR is the lower oil price environment, which has seen companies cut down their spending, particularly on projects that don’t have an immediate return on investment. Unfortunately, this is the case with EOR programmes.
The greatest challenge facing the EOR market is, therefore, the drop in oil prices. EOR investments are becoming less commercially attractive in comparison to other low-risk investments that can generate positive cash flows more quickly.
Today, oil and gas companies are becoming more and more cash constrained. EOR economics have traditionally suffered from the high costs associated with energy, carbon dioxide, and chemicals supply.
Through the unique merger of chemistry and engineering experience, however, Dow’s advanced innovations and valuable service helps customers achieve more efficient flow, control contaminants, and enhance all phases of an asset’s performance across the oil and gas value chain.
As the region increasingly turns to specialty chemistries to address its unique oil and gas challenges, Dow is investing in expanding its local innovation capabilities, to continue developing and customising solutions for the region’s unique needs.
One such example is Dow’s partnership with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a multi-year, multimillion-dollar research and development (R&D) framework that included the establishment of Dow’s Middle East Innovation Centre (MEIC) in KAUST in 2011.
The work carried out at MEIC focusses on research into water treatment, and technologies for oil and gas applications like flow assurance. An agreement was signed with KAUST in 2015 to further expand this centre into a dedicated building, to expand its research capabilities into other oil and gas related fields, such as EOR and exploration.
