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Austrian Firms Hold Oil Recovery Conference in Tehran

Austrian Firms Hold Oil Recovery Conference in Tehran
Austrian Firms Hold Oil Recovery Conference in Tehran

Three Austrian companies introduced their cutting-edge enhanced oil recovery methods in a conference in Tehran on Wednesday.

According to Shana, Pars Marine Industries Company organized the First Austrian Technology Transfer Conference for EOR by using treated water at the Austrian Embassy's commercial section in Tehran.

The event was attended by the representatives of three Austrian companies operating in EOR technologies in oil industry, namely HOT Engineering, SONNEK Engineering and ILF Consulting Engineers.

The conference discussed strategies to boost the oilfields' lifespan, the key for cheap oil production on mature oilfields as well as optimization of the water cycle to improve the reservoir pressure.

According to PMIC, EOR operations primarily aim at maintaining the optimum reservoir pressure and to this end, a well-designed process has to be carried out during the life time of oilfields.

Pointing to water scarcity as one of the biggest environmental woes afflicting Iran, Mohammad Zahedzadeh, a water management specialist from the National Iranian Oil Company and one of the keynote speakers, said, "Most of Iran's oilfields are in the middle or the end of their life cycle and water resource management should be incorporated in all master development plans. Appropriate solutions should be adopted to address water challenges during the fields' life cycle."

Austrian participants demonstrated their latest state-of-the-art EOR techniques using treated seawater or extracted water from oilfields. Reservoir analyses and modeling, designing and engineering the best process, technology and equipment manufacturing and installation systems were among other presented issues.

  Rock on a Chip

According to Diethard Kratzer, HOT Engineering CEO, proper reservoir understanding and characterization are prerequisites for a successful EOR operation.

The official also remarked on oilfield characterization and modeling as well as EOR process visualization using microfluidics "Rock-on-a-Chip" technology, a rapid and cost-effective tool for enhancing the understanding of the EOR processes to reduce the amount of conventional core floods required for EOR screening and planning.

Highlighting consulting, engineering, procurement and tendering of EOR projects, Helge Hoeft, the head of projects business unit upstream at IlF consulting engineering, talked about project management for the implementation, engineering, planning and tendering EOR ventures.

Werner Wieseneder, managing partner of SONNEK Engineering, focused on the design, production, startup and service of turnkey EOR modular systems for treatment and high pressure injection of produced water and seawater. He also offered a technical presentation about modular equipment for EOR projects, water treatment, water injection, dosing system and services.

Iran holds some 700 billion barrels of oil with a recovery factor of nearly 25%. Recovery factor is the ratio of technically and economically recoverable reserves to the total amount of oil in a reservoir.

Reportedly, a 1% increase in recovery rate will translate into 7 billion barrels of crude oil. This will bring in more than $280 billion in revenues with oil priced at $40 per barrel. Recovery factor in Iranian oilfields ranges between 5% and 60%.

In 2016, Iran and Austria traded $440 million of goods, down from $952 million in 2011, but the two countries are eager to increase the volume of trade with each other. More than 80% of Iran's imports from Austria are industrial machinery.

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