Lacking modern technology to increase production, it is highly likely that Iranian oil and gas fields will be exhausted in the future, says the head of Oil and Gas Recovery Research Center, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company.
"Despite the fact that we have made major breakthroughs in primary recovery methods, namely fluid expansion, rock compressibility, gravitational drainage and natural water flow or gas drive, we still cannot benefit from secondary recovery methods or improved oil recovery (IOR) techniques, nor are we able to apply tertiary recovery methods or enhanced oil recovery (EOR)," Shahab Gerami told Shana.
The main difference between IOR and EOR is that the latter is used to recover mostly immobile oil that remains in the reservoir after application of the former.
Referring to such use in domestic fields, he said only primary recovery methods have been applied in several reservoirs namely Azar Oilfield in the western Ilam Province, yielding positive results. The only project undertaken with the help of EOR was in Darkhovin Oilfield in the south.
Plans are in place to apply either of the techniques in Bibi Hakimeh in Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad Province.
Attaching great importance to the advanced approaches, he stressed that EOR helps extract 30 to 60% of the reservoir's original oil, compared with primary and secondary methods that can only help pump maximum 20 to 40%.
"So long as the huge oil and gas fields like Azadadegan in Khuzestan Province and South Pars in the Persian Gulf have acceptable recovery rates and production cost is low, officials will remain oblivious to the crucial role EOR that can and must play in increasing such fields' recovery rate," he said, calling for better funding for relevant R&D.
Gerami added that his organization has signed a contract with state-owned Pars Oil and Gas Company—one the contractors developing Phase 11 of the South Pars Gas Filed—and the latter will invest $15 million in the center for recovery research.
In-depth and sustained surveys on the behavior of oil and gas fields can help contractors reduce unnecessary costs to increase recovery rates, he added.
"It is our job to identify the most suitable method to raise extraction rates," Gerami said, noting that some hydrocarbon reserves like the Natih Oilfield in Oman have suffered huge losses due to applying improper techniques to increase output, yet Norwegian Ekofisk Oilfield in the North Sea has experienced a 17% hike in output rate because of using suitable methods.
According to the official, producing crude at low cost is not necessarily always the right choice because wrong recovery methods can significantly reduce a field's life cycle.
Energy experts assert that even if Iran focuses its time, money and energy on completing the value chain in oil and gas industries without advanced techniques to exploit its 650 billion barrels of oil reserves, it will still fail to harvest the maximum capacity of the oilfields.
