ASSIGNMENT- SEMINAR-2 TREND IMPACTING THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY IN OIL & GAS FIELD

I.
II.

Introduction Supporting abstract from Peer reviewed sources 1. Re-usable Platforms 2. Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods

III.

Summary

I.

Introduction

Following the argument of seminar 1, I would like to support it with the help of the articles referenced in this paper, which are clearly demonstrating the need of applying latest methods and technologies to meet the global demand of these fossil fuels. Today, more than 80% of the energy globally being burned of using the fossil fuels, and in spite of the current depletion of the easily available oil & gas, this global demand is not changing. This force the major Oil and gas producers to develop the advanced techniques which offer potential solutions to overcome the problems of conventional oil & gas depletion. These developments confront their own pressures, mainly comprising, higher-cost materials, including the dangers about the non proven performance and impact on the environment due to the emerging materials.

II.

Supporting Abstract from Peer reviewed sources

As summarized in the last assignment, today there are OIL & GAS platforms which are re-usable in nature or in other words mobilization of the platforms are possible. Earlier, these platforms were once installed, had to demolish after the life span of the oil/gas field and at places where not enough fossils were present, producers did not even think of exploring those fields as the capital costs of installation were not recoverable due to short span of production. But now with the increasing global demands, these conventional platforms do not give the desirable amount of oil/gas. Secondly, the method of producing of fossil fuel by conventional drilling is less productive due to the limited extraction of oil from the topmost layers, which in actual not enough to match up the demand. Thus, with latest studies & technologies, the oil/gas present on the lower layers on the earths crust can also be extracted with various means, most commonly by injection methods which is described further in this paper. 1. Re-usable platforms In the North Sea, there are several gas reserves which are not yet explored, but by invention of a technology named self installation platform, these reserves are pretty usable. In this method, the platforms for oil/gas production are movable in nature and thus one platform which is self installed (as named), can be sailed to another location after utilizing the available small fossil reserve. A latest example which also made a world record of the first type of its own kind is the F3FA platform, owned by a client named Centrica plc. This production platform was made for

purpose of extraction of gas from various locations; the first one being the Dutch sector of the North Sea and thereafter it is planned to move in to the UK sector of the North Sea. This was engineered fabricated by three different organisations in the Netherlands. Centrica declared its new platform is the largest reusable, selfinstalling platform in the world (TCE: The Chemical Engineer, December 2010 / January 2011). This platform will be utilized at multiple locations with a purpose of development of many small available or incompletely utilized resources of gas at certain initial capital investments. These kinds of discoveries help in getting out the maximum out of multiple resources with a single source and help in compensating the oil/gas global demand in this much needed time.

Source: SPT offshore (2010)

2. Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods Another latest technique of taking out the increasing amount of oil from the same oil reservoir which cannot be extracted conventionally is known as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) (www.shell.com). Every field i.e. an oil/gas reservoir has its life, which determines the time span for which that source will be producing the fossil fuel. Study proved that these fields were not utilized to its maximum capability and only 20-40 % of the available oil/gas can be pulled out & later investigations confirmed that those fields had much more potential and could produce even more with proper implementation of the recovery methods. According to a recent study, one of the most commonly used EOR methods is injection methods in which the gases/liquids used for the injection are known as EOR agents such as Nitrogen & carbon dioxide. This study even explained the most promising overall EOR solution appears to be field produced gas re-injection together with water, which is known as Simultaneous Water and Gas (SWAG) EOR Injection process. This method requires a lot of investment but the risk of environmental damage is also quite big, and special precautions must be taken together with research and development before implementation, this is also

explained in the recent academic journal. (P. Permata & D.G. Hatzignatiou, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 2011)

Source: Rigzone.com (2012)

III.

Summary

Since last few decades, there is immense increase in the demands of oil & gas. This gave birth to several techniques or methods which help in making a balance between the supply & demand. This also gave rise to huge implications in the oil & gas prices. Several investigations took place before applying these methods by taking into account the environmental hazards and safety issues which are prime concern in todays world. Two of the methods are also explained above with evidence of studies and scholarly articles without having environmental impact. Thus, this summarizes the trend of discovering & using new technologies in oil & gas industry is mandatory for finding solution for meeting its demand and having a global impact.

References: bbc.co.uk- Gas platform transforms North Sea [online], Available on:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11633155 (accessed 27th October, 2010)

P. Permata, D.G. Hatzignatiou. (2011), Revitalizing small offshore oil assets Field redevelopment feasibility study, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, March 2011, Issue 76(3), p155-171 , Available through: University of Liverpool Database [accessed 16th April, 2012].

Rigzone.com Gas Injection Technology [online] Available on: http://www.rigzone.com/training/insight.asp?i_id=345 [accessed 05 April 2012]

Shell.com-Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) [online], Available on:

http://www.shell.com/home/content/innovation/meeting_demand/eor/ [accessed 17th

April, 2012]
SPT Offshore SIP Platform Technology [online] Available on: http://www.sptoffshore.com/bin/ibp.jsp? ibpZone=S8_SIP&ibpDisplay=view&ibpPage=S8_FocusPage&ibpDispWho=S8_SIP&ibpDi spWhat=zone& [accessed 07 April 2012]

TCE: The Chemical Engineer, (Dec2010/Jan2011), North Sea gets largest reusable platform, TCE today, Issue 834, p13-13, 1/4p, Available through: University of Liverpool Database [accessed 16th April, 2012].