The application of modern enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and improved oil recovery (IOR) techniques are crucial to help the industry increase its extraction rate, research and technology director of the National Iranian Oil Company said.
"The current oil market entails us to shore up average oil recovery rate … A significant approach to reach the goal is the implementation of modern EOR and IOR methods in oilfields, which has been on NIOC's agenda for years," Mohammad Ali Emadi was also quoted as saying by Shana on Saturday.
The official was addressing a conference on "challenges and solutions to boost oil recovery" on the sidelines of the Second Iran International Exploration and Production Congress and Exhibition held in Tehran.
"Lack of clear approaches has hampered the drive to reach the envisaged target, which requires the responsible bodies to adopt efficient methods," Emadi added.
Iran aims to increase its oil production to 4.05 million barrels per day and total gas output to 1.1 billion cubic meters per day this year.
According to government data, oil production is now at 3.8 million bpd. In an agreement with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut oil output and ease a global oversupply, Iran was allowed to produce an average of 3.8 million bpd in the first half of last year.
Reza Falahat, research deputy at Nargan Company—an engineering, procurement, construction and project management firm—said the country's output can rise enormously "if transparent and practical IOR and EOR techniques are adopted".
He noted that the factor distracting the industry from adopting such recovery techniques is "the low cost of oil production". However, he added that extraction from the newly operational oil wells, which involve higher costs, will give an impetus to get rid of conventional extraction methods.
According to Falahat, a joint committee has been established by 18 firms to study the current challenges and potential solutions in the country's oil extraction activities.
Research shows that enhanced oil recovery methods can increase production from a well to up to 75% of its in-place reservoirs. Oil and gas fields have a life cycle of 10-50 years, depending on their size and geological formations.
Production hits a plateau two to three years before the extraction rate drops by 1-10% annually.
The average rate of recovery from Iran's oilfields is around 25%, but it should reach 40%. In-place oil reserves are estimated at 800 billion barrels.
