Technical Agenda

Monday Morning

Session 1: 70% - Possible or Not? Do You Believe?

Session Managers: Willem Schulte and Kent Holing

The opening session of the Forum will invite the participants to take a stance on the feasibility of reaching a 70% recovery factor in the majority of oil fields. Discussions will centre around two questions: 1) is this possible?, and 2) how can it be achieved - by large stepchanges in technology or by gradual improvements from an innovative workforce? Three case studies will be presented: a field that is close to this target, a field where it is still only a dream, and a field where a change of ownership has revitalised the development and increased recovery stepwise. The discussion will set the scene for the following sessions.

Monday Evening

Session 2: Where is the Remaining Oil Hiding?

Session Managers: Philip Ringrose and Olga Vizika-Kavvadias

This session will identify and map out the distribution of remaining oil. First, where on the planet, in terms of geography and logistics (onshore, offshore/deep, near/far from market)? Secondly, in which types of reservoir geology (clastic reservoirs, carbonates, fractured reservoirs, low permeability reservoirs)? And thirdly, where in the reservoirs, in terms of physics and reservoir dynamics (pore-scale Sor, unswept rock units, micro-traps, and undrained reservoir blocks)? Preconceived notions about remaining oil will be challenged and attempts made to uncover the true reasons why oil is currently left in the ground. Finally, regarding uncertainty and quantification, what do we actually know and what do we need to know about the remaining oil distribution?

Tuesday Morning

Session 3: Quantitative Surveillance Monitoring and Prediction Technology. The Way Forward. What Do We Need?

Session Managers: Martin Landrø and Steven Cheung

Key topics will be: new and more precise well measurements, time lapse geophysical methods including passive seismic, gravimetric and electromagnetic monitoring methods. The session will discuss how the aquired data should be integrated with the reservoir management in an optimal way. Do we need to adapt or change our tools for reservoir performance prediction? Is the vision of automatic updating a deviated tour or a useful concept? Where are the major gaps in present monitoring methods: resolution? Lack of quantitative numbers for changes in reservoir parameters? Too long turnaround time? To high data acquisition cost, or something else?

Tuesday Afternoon

Session 4: Can Improved Conventional Methods Do the Job?

Session Managers: Jairam Kamath and Philip Ringrose

The consensus of the "EOR – What’s Next?" SPE Forum held in 2006 was that it did not appear to be any game changing EOR technologies on the horizon. Rather, it was felt that incremental improvements to known technologies and the rapid proliferation of non-EOR technologies would be the factor changing the EOR game. The session will discuss how the rapid improvements in imaging, better wells and drilling, and integrated characterisation-simulation reservoir management-risk analysis have led to significantly increased recoveries.

Wednesday Morning

Session 5: Can Chemicals Do the Job?

Session Managers: Arne Skauge and Steven Cheung

The application of chemical EOR methods has been less than expected in the past, but 70% recovery can in most cases not be achieved without reduction in residual oil and/or improvement of the sweep. Is there a new trend emerging in the current economy? Are there possible new technical solutions or is it mostly the same old story? There are some recent developments that are promising and especially the concept of combining different EOR methods. The session will focus on new opportunities for chemical EOR methods and the new technological trends for the coming years.

Wednesday Evening

Session 6: STEP Changes Needed in Conventional EOR

Session Managers: Kevin Webb and Sigmund Stokka

There are many EOR technologies available to produce incremental oil (such as surfactant, polymer, wettability modifiers, gas etc). Many of these are not currently utilised in the major oil producing areas of the world. This session will address the major step change advances that are required to utilise these conventional EOR techniques, together with a discussion on advances in emerging technologies such as microbial recovery and low salinity water flooding. It is intended to discuss the problems that hinder implementation of these EOR technologies, together with the breakthrough solutions that are needed to achieve the 70% recovery.

Thursday Morning

Session 7: What Novel Technology Do We Need?

Session Managers: Larry Fung and Ann Muggeridge

Previous sessions have discussed developments of existing technologies to improve oil recovery. Which radically new technologies would we like to develop? How could we grow and materialise such ideas? Possible targets for novel technology are: better deep diagnostic methods to see the reservoirs, methods to recover bypassed oil volumes, homogenising heterogeneous reservoir models, controlling the reservoir wettability, and controlling displacement processes and front movements. What recent scientific advances in physics, chemistry, biology, nanotechnology, electronic, or computational sciences can we harness to make these new technologies a reality?

Thursday Evening

Session 8: What are the Economical and Environmental Constraints?

Session Managers: Sigmund Stokka and Roland Horne

This session will address the economical and environmental constraints that are imposed on field development projects. Will economical uncertainty limit the potential for application of new technology? Can economical evaluation be challenged? Do we know the environmental constrains? Can we predict their impact on the planned oil recovery strategy?

Friday Morning

Session 9: Wrap-Up - What Does the Future Look Like?

Session Managers: Ann Muggeridge and Willem Schulte

The final session of the Forum will collate the ideas discussed during the week and prioritise them in terms of a) importance for achieving at least 70% recovery, b) feasibility of implementation, and c) requirements for further research and cross-industry initiatives. Participants will be asked if they have changed their stance since the opening of the Forum on the question as to whether a 70% recovery factor can and will be achieved in the majority of our fields in the future.