Chevron tests new oil recovery technology

Tamsin Carlisle

• Last Updated: November 04. 2009 2:54PM UAE / November 4. 2009 10:54AM GMT

Chevron, the US oil firm, is moving into the final phase of a landmark test of a new application of enhanced oil recovery technology in the partitioned neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The company said it would drill 25 producing wells, 16 steam-injection wells and 16 observation wells under its programme to complete the US$340 million (Dh1.25 billion) large-scale pilot project aimed at boosting output from four fields in the zone containing a combined 12 billion barrels of tar-like heavy oil which is difficult to extract.

The crude is trapped in carbonate rock, one of two rock types in which most of the world’s oil reservoirs are found. So far, carbonate formations such as limestone have resisted the established industry methods for increasing yields of oil held in sandstone, the other main type of reservoir rock.

If Chevron’s three-year test works, it could lead to a full-scale commercial development that would be the first of its kind in the world. Potentially, the technology could unlock “billions of barrels of new energy resources” from carbonate oil reservoirs worldwide, George Kirkland, a Chevron executive vice president, said at an event the company hosted in the neutral zone for delegations led by the the Saudi and Kuwaiti oil ministers.

tcarlisle@thenational.ae