NOD assessing enhanced oil and gas recovery to stem future production decline

The Norwegian Energy Ministry has asked the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) to investigate enhanced oil and gas recovery (EOGR) techniques that could potentially sustain profitable field development.

One of the goals is to arrest the anticipated decline in production from the Norwegian Continental Shelf, said Ove Bjørn Wilson, senior reservoir engineer at the NOD.

“There is a significant gap between the identified EOGR opportunities and the few pilot projects that have actually been pursued,” he added.

The internal task force has started assessment of projects that have not yet been completed or implemented, building on a study by Imperial College. This assessed the potential for enhanced recovery using advanced methods at a theoretical 350-700 MMcmoe.

 “There is still uncertainty as to how much of this could actually yield profitable increased recovery,” Wilson explained.

“We could be talking about quantities that match the entire production from the Johan Sverdrup field. This could have a significant impact on activity on the NCS, and yield vast revenues for both the industry and society in general.”

Various EOGR methods evaluated previously for specific fields were rejected due to a combination of issues with technical feasibility, the field owners’ profitability requirements, associated environmental costs, and restricted access to suitable injection sources.

But EOGR has been tested and implemented offshore in other parts of the world, the NOD says. “This shows that EOGR is technically feasible and profitable under conditions comparable to the NCS.

“In our efforts now, we’ll be thinking outside the box, looking at alternatives we haven’t previously investigated,” says Wilson.

The NOD is assessing fields with appropriate geological and technical subsurface conditions for implementation of an EOGR pilot – and also, at which stage the techniques could be introduced during the fields’ lives to enable profitable production, or at which point this might be too late.

“The objective is to identify fields that are well-suited for profitable production with the aid of advanced methods, which the operators should examine in more detail,” Wilson said. “This is urgent work, as the development of the NCS is already mature.

“We need to find the right method for each individual field, taking into account the field’s existing recovery strategy. In fact, everything that’s been done on a field up to the present has an impact on whether or not it may be profitable to implement enhanced recovery using advanced methods.”