ÇAĞRILI KONUŞMALAR / KEYNOTES Invited Speeches ... - TPJD

Production Technologies for Heavy Oil Development
Secaeddin Şahin 1 , Ülker Kalfa 1 , Demet Çelebioğlu 1 , Ersan Duygu 2 , Bülent Temel 2 ,
Hasan Turgut 2 , Raşit Konuksal 2 , Hakkı Lahna 2
1 Turkish Petroleum Corporation, Department of Production, Ankara
2 Turkısh Petroleum Corporation, Batman District Management, Batman
The current state of recent industrial development is characterized by the consumption of
enormous quantities of hydrocarbon resources. Howover, while demand for hydrocarbon
resources continues to rise, worldwide petroleum production is in steady decline. The era of
cheap oil came to an end. Most of the forecasts agree that conventional oil will be a much
smaller portion of our asset base. Heavy Oil will have an increasingly important role in meeting
the world’s energy demand. With the decline in oil discoveries in the last decades it is believed
that novel technologies will play a key role on this subject. With a worldwide resource base that
may exceed 6.5 trillion barrels, Heavy Oil and bitumen will be a major energy source for the 21’st
century as the availability of conventional oil declines. One third of the world’s oil is located in
Canada in the form of heavy oil and bitumen. Turkey has about 3.5 billion bbl of heavy oil in
southeastern part of the country. It is difficult to produce heavy oil cost-effectively because of
its high viscosity and low gravity. It resists to flow, so engineers have had to undertake various
methods to coax heavy oil out of the earth. However, with the new technologies developed
in the last two decades, these reservoirs seem more attractive than ever, even the discounted
prices of heavy oil is taken into account. Today, heavy oil activities are worldwide and are
increasing in number more than ever particularly in countries having aging fields and heavy oil
or bitumen reserves. The rise in world oil prices promises that substantial portions of otherwise
neglected oil can be recovered with techniques which fall under the broad heading of IOR and/
or EOR (Improved Oil Recovery)/ EOR(Enhanced Oil Recovery). They are more crucial especially
for the fields bearing heavy oil. This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent IOR/EOR
status and opportunities -and highlights the need for Turkey to address and incorporate IOR/EOR
technology as one of its strategic plans towards the goal of increasing oil production and get a
slice of the international petroleum business cake. It also presents a summary of ongoing IOR/
EOR applications of TPAO at a pilot or full field scale.
Keywords: Heavy Oil, IOR/EOR
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