Branch AGM & Life Extension Presentations

20 November 2013 Newcastle Evening Meeting

Chairman Dr Ian Frazer

Report

Flyer

Jonathon Doyle, Senior Engineer, Atkins
At the end of design life, the operators of subsea equipment and pipelines face a choice between decommissioning or justifying the extension of the life of their assets. Factors such as commodity price, enhanced recovery techniques, and the economic viability of new infrastructure all contribute to the decision. In recent years Atkins has worked on a number of subsea and pipeline life extension projects, ranging from major infrastructure to small subsea tiebacks. Jonathon will discuss the motivations we have seen for life extension, the techniques that we have employed, and some of the challenges that we and our clients have experienced.

Life in the Old Dogs Yet—An Evaluations of the North Sea’s Remaining Petroleum Resources
Prof Jon Gluyas, Head of Department, Dong/Ikon Chair in Geoenergy Carbon Capture & Storage, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University

In mid-1975 the Argyll Field became the first UK North Sea oilfield to produce oil. Seventeen years later in 1992 the then operator deemed life was over for this modest sized field and the expectation was that many more fields would follow suit. Indeed by the turn of the millennium it was anticipated that many of the large fields in the North Sea would be abandoned, the expected 30-35% yield factor of oil would have been met. Yet today in 2013 very few fields have been abandoned and many continue to produce oil economical albeit with reduced rate. Professor Gluyas will discuss some of the more likely enhanced oil recovery methods – those which modify the properties of the connate water or the viscosity of the oil and will also examine reservoir contributions to OPEX reduction by examining the value in co-produced fluids.

The sky is not the limit but there are good technical reasons to believe tertiary recovery could add 10% to the ultimate yield of oil in the UK.