Aging assets and a push to develop more offshore assets is helping to make the Middle East a growth area and push research into CO2 injection for enhanced oil recovery, according to Prajeev Rasiah, regional manager, Middle East & India, DNV GL – Oil & Gas (pictured).
“Many offshore fields developed during the offshore boom years in the 1970s and 1980s are still actively producing today, made possible through advances in oil and gas recovery methods,” he says. “In the Middle East, hundreds of fixed offshore installations are approaching or have exceeded their design life.”
According to Infield, around 500 platforms have an average age exceeding 28 years in the Middle East.
Just recently, Atkins was awarded two contracts by Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO) for structural analysis services worth over US$3 million.
The work will support ADMA-OPCO’s expansion program for its offshore production facilities by supporting the safe life extension of existing critical infrastructure. Read more: Atkins wins ADMA-OPCO contract
In addition, there is a major push to raise offshore production, including in the United Arab Emirates, where Abu Dhabi is set to take a lead position in upstream investment. “The key offshore operator in the UAE plans to raise production by 300,000b/d over the next five years and targeting production of around 1mn b/d by 2020,” says Rasiah.
“The Middle East upstream market is growing, with all of the Gulf Cooperation Countries and Iraq endeavouring to increase their oil and gas production,” adds Hugh Fraser, managing partner, Dubai, law firm Andrews Kurth. “There are two key drivers: the pressure on gas supplies due to demand for gas in the industrial sectors in the region and the desire of the regional governments to fund infrastructure and social projects, given the recent experiences with the ‘Arab Spring.’
“All eyes are on Saudi Arabia because Saudi Aramco will be spending US$40 billion a year for the next 10 years on its oil and gas sector. Oman is also a target market for advanced technologies because of its specific challenges: many small wells, remote locations and difficult geology.”
To keep their fields going, operators in the Middle East are using associated gas injection for enhanced oil recovery purposes; however the host countries require gas for power generation to meet the growing local demand, says Rasiah.
“One proposed solution is to use CO2 for injection for enhanced oil recovery EOR purposes; however this will in turn pose a number of technical challenges that require addressing both by the industry and by the service providers,” he says.
“Another challenge that would face the industry in the Middle East is managing well integrity. This is especially true for wells drilled and completed over 30 years ago where corrosion issues are arising. The industry now more than ever needs a common approach to manage the integrity of wells.”
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