Life of gas reserves can be extended, says BSP
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Extraction of oil from old reservoirs is made possible by oil giant's cutting-edge technology
DESPITE experts' estimates that Brunei's oil and gas reserves will run out in less than 10 years, chief oil and gas production company Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) remains optimistic on prolonging the life of the sultanate's hydrocarbon reserves.
"We know where most of the oil is. It's in the places where we are already producing it," BSP managing director Dr Grahaeme Henderson told journalists in a briefing on Tuesday.
Throughout its 100-year history, oil giant Shell has developed cutting-edge technology which makes it possible to extract oil from reservoirs that have already been worked on before.
Some of the methods known in the industry include secondary, tertiary and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).
In primary recovery — a rarity in modern times — oil flows naturally from a well, while in secondary recovery, pressure is exerted in a well to squeeze the oil out.
"If you don't do secondary, tertiary recovery or EOR, then Brunei's oil reserves will run out as the experts say," BSP Director David Purvis told The Brunei Times on Tuesday.
Champions West, with half a billion barrels of oil and gas, was the largest undeveloped find for BSP, but went untapped for almost three decades.
The field's deposits are scattered in hundreds of small pockets more than two miles beneath the seabed, making it too expensive to drill.
The field's first development phase started in the early 90s, and was then aborted due to drilling problems, low oil recovery from oil rims and low returns on investment.
In 2005, Shell engineers came up with what the company considered as the first of its kind — snake wells.
These wells, which bore horizontally for miles below the seabed with precise twists and turns to hit computer-modelled targets, were needed in order to tap into Champion West's rich deposits.
BSP is now able to connect as many as half-dozen pockets of oil with each of these wells, which have arrays of valves and sensors installed in them.
To date, BSP has produced 33 per cent of Champion West's total recovery, according to Dr Henderson. Champion West produces some 70,000 barrels of oil a day, about a third of BSP's output.
The third development phase for the field has already been completed, with nine additional wells drilled to enable access to more than 250 million barrels of oil equivalent.
However, despite ongoing exploration and production activities, industry sources expect that onshore and coastal areas of Brunei are unlikely to hold significant additional oil reserves, according to United States statistical agency Energy Information Administration (EIR).
EIR's latest country analysis report on Brunei cites the sultanate's declining oil reserves, which according to the Oil and Gas Journal stands at 1.1 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.
Last year, Brunei consumed an estimated 13,000 barrels of oil per day, with most of the country's crude oil production exported to other countries in the region.
Despite Brunei's status as a net exporter of oil, the country imports about half of the refined petroleum products that it consumes, since it has limited domestic refining capacity.
The Brunei Times
DESPITE experts' estimates that Brunei's oil and gas reserves will run out in less than 10 years, chief oil and gas production company Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) remains optimistic on prolonging the life of the sultanate's hydrocarbon reserves.
"We know where most of the oil is. It's in the places where we are already producing it," BSP managing director Dr Grahaeme Henderson told journalists in a briefing on Tuesday.
Throughout its 100-year history, oil giant Shell has developed cutting-edge technology which makes it possible to extract oil from reservoirs that have already been worked on before.
Some of the methods known in the industry include secondary, tertiary and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).
In primary recovery — a rarity in modern times — oil flows naturally from a well, while in secondary recovery, pressure is exerted in a well to squeeze the oil out.
"If you don't do secondary, tertiary recovery or EOR, then Brunei's oil reserves will run out as the experts say," BSP Director David Purvis told The Brunei Times on Tuesday.
Champions West, with half a billion barrels of oil and gas, was the largest undeveloped find for BSP, but went untapped for almost three decades.
The field's deposits are scattered in hundreds of small pockets more than two miles beneath the seabed, making it too expensive to drill.
The field's first development phase started in the early 90s, and was then aborted due to drilling problems, low oil recovery from oil rims and low returns on investment.
In 2005, Shell engineers came up with what the company considered as the first of its kind — snake wells.
These wells, which bore horizontally for miles below the seabed with precise twists and turns to hit computer-modelled targets, were needed in order to tap into Champion West's rich deposits.
BSP is now able to connect as many as half-dozen pockets of oil with each of these wells, which have arrays of valves and sensors installed in them.
To date, BSP has produced 33 per cent of Champion West's total recovery, according to Dr Henderson. Champion West produces some 70,000 barrels of oil a day, about a third of BSP's output.
The third development phase for the field has already been completed, with nine additional wells drilled to enable access to more than 250 million barrels of oil equivalent.
However, despite ongoing exploration and production activities, industry sources expect that onshore and coastal areas of Brunei are unlikely to hold significant additional oil reserves, according to United States statistical agency Energy Information Administration (EIR).
EIR's latest country analysis report on Brunei cites the sultanate's declining oil reserves, which according to the Oil and Gas Journal stands at 1.1 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.
Last year, Brunei consumed an estimated 13,000 barrels of oil per day, with most of the country's crude oil production exported to other countries in the region.
Despite Brunei's status as a net exporter of oil, the country imports about half of the refined petroleum products that it consumes, since it has limited domestic refining capacity.
The Brunei Times
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