EXCLUSIVE: Adnoc to test new EOR concepts for offshore oil fields

01 February 2018
Abu Dhabi oil giant will conduct trials of enhanced oil recovery methods to boost production from offshore assets

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) intends to test new enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methodologies to boost production from its offshore oil fields in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE oil giant has devised “a dedicated roadmap for the offshore assets” to reach its Vision 2030 goal of raising the overall oil recovery rate from its fields to 70 per cent, Ayesha Abdul Rahman al-Marzouqi, manager at the Enhanced Oil Recovery Department at Adnoc, has said.

MEED reported in January that Adnoc is working towards conducting four EOR pilot projects from 2021 in its onshore assets, in a bid to raise output from EOR techniques.

Al-Marzouqi said the new EOR concepts to be deployed at Adnoc’s offshore fields need not come from separate pilot project for the offshore assets, but can be concepts that have achieved success in the onshore pilot trials, since “there are similarities in our onshore and offshore reservoirs”.

“Our strategy will be like: if we have tried a technology onshore, we would deploy that offshore in phases. So I don’t need to go for pilots everywhere. I do a pilot in one area with a certain type of reservoir, and I go and deploy this concept (elsewhere) in a phased manner,” Marzouqi told MEED.

She did not mention when such new EOR methodologies will be developed or deployed offshore, adding that Adnoc will outline its plans post the renewal of the Adnoc Offshore concession scheduled for later this year.

According to reports, Adnoc already received bids in Q4 last year from international oil companies seeking stakes in the Adnoc Offshore fields that account for about 25 per cent of the estimated 3 million barrels a day (b/d) Adnoc produces.

The national oil company is reviewing the commercial bids from the energy players as part of the process to choose new partners for the joint venture, formerly known as the Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (Adma-Opco), which expires in March.

Adnoc integrated its two offshore subsidiaries Adma-Opco and the Zakum Development Company (Zadco) into a single company last year, as part of efforts to drive value and achieve cost efficiency in its supply chain.

Adnoc owns 60 per cent of the current (Adma-Opco) partnership managing the fields, while BP holds 14.67 per cent, France’s Total 13.33 per cent and Inpex Corporation of Japan 12 per cent.

Inpex is interested in the new concession and is in negotiations, according to Bloomberg, although it is not clear if it has submitted a bid. BP, Total, Norway’s Statoil and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) are among companies that have expressed interest. CNPC already owns an 8 per cent stake in Adnoc Onshore it won last year.

The new Adnoc Offshore contracts will govern operations at the deposits for several decades. The fields currently produce about 700,000 b/d, with a target to pump 1 million b/d by 2021.

Under the contract for the new venture, international companies will no longer receive a fixed fee for each barrel of oil they produce, according to Bloomberg. Instead, the partners will receive shares of the oil produced at the fields and any profit from sales of the crude minus costs, taxes and royalties paid to the government.

In another change Adnoc will reportedly introduce for the offshore acreage, the single offshore block will be divided into three parts. One area will contain the Lower Zakum field, a second will include the Umm Shaif and Nasr deposits and the third will comprise the Satah Al Razboot (Sarb) and Umm Lulu fields, they said.

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