The state-owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is preparing to put out a tender for selecting a service provider of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology for its mega Lowers Fars heavy oil development project in the giant Ratqa field.

“There is a much anticipated tender for developing EOR technologies for the Lower Fars development. The tender process takes a lot of time. [But] I think all indications are that they [KOC] will put out the tender this year,” said Ben Bierman, the chief operating officer and acting CEO of US technology company Glasspoint.

Bierman confirmed that Glasspoint would make a bid when KOC releases the tender for selecting a partner to provide EOR solutions.

A key component of Kuwait’s plans to increase its oil production to 4 million barrels a day (b/d) by 2020 will come from heavy oil resources. This includes the first phase of the Lower Fars project in northern Kuwait, which is being developed by an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) consortium of the UK’s Petrofac and Greece’s Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), and is set to produce about 60,000 b/d from next year.

KOC requires thermal EOR methodologies to develop the highly viscous oil from the onshore Ratqa field, as gas-injection based EOR proves to be expensive in Kuwait, which imports gas to meet its needs.

Glasspoint has been lobbying with KOC for a role in helping the operator meet its production target from the Lower Fars project.

“I am sure they [KOC] are evaluating solar EOR technologies, and it has many advantages for them. That field [Ratqa] is going to require a lot of energy to develop. If it’s not going to be solar steam it would have to be natural gas which they will have to buy, thereby impacting the economics of the project,” Bierman told MEED.

The official said KOC adopting a clean technology to produce oil also aligns with His Highness the Emir of Kuwait’s vision of the country producing about 15 per cent of its energy through renewable sources.

Bierman believes that the success of Glasspoint’s ‘Miraah’ project for Petroleum Development Oman’s (PDO) gives it a strong edge over its competitors who would bid for the KOC project.

“It is a complex tender process, and there are a lot of stakeholders. I don’t think there is another company in the world which is in a better position to win that,” he said.