Abu Dhabi starts first enhanced oil recovery project

08 April 2010

Carbon dioxide supplied by Praxair Gulf Industrial Gases

Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco) has begun a enhanced oil recovery project in the emirate, the company said in a 8 April statement.

The project will test the injection of carbon dioxide into pilot wells in a carbonate reservoir in Abu Dhabi. A pilot scheme began operations at the end of 2009, with a continuous supply of 60 tonnes a day, or 1.2 million cubic feet a day, of carbon dioxide injected into one of the pilot wells.

Abu Dhabi-based Praxair Gulf Industrial Gases, a subsidiary of the US’ Praxair will supply the carbon dioxide and will carry out the injection operations under a contract with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar).

The state onshore oil operator plans to increase the emirate’s onshore oil capacity by 400,000 barrels a day (b/d) to 1.8 million b/d by 2015.

As part of the plan on 24 March, Adco awarded a $560m deal to build new oil and gas production facilities at the Qusawirah field in the south east of the emirate to local National Petroleum Construction Company (MEED 24:3:10).

The UAE as a whole has approximately 97.8 billion barrels of crude oil reserves. Abu Dhabi leads the other emirates with 92.2 billion barrels, followed by Dubai with 4 billion barrels, Sharjah with 1.5 billion barrels, and Ras al-Khaimah with 100 million barrels.

A MEED Subscription...

Subscribe or upgrade your current MEED.com package to support your strategic planning with the MENA region’s best source of business information. Proceed to our online shop below to find out more about the features in each package.