BP showcases groundbreaking technologies at Kuwait's World Energy and Chemicals Exhibition

BP has developed a range of proprietary industry-leading technologies that have enabled it to increase recovery factors throughout its global network and to unlock difficult to extract resources.

"The application of innovative technologies and cooperation between governments, national oil companies and international oil companies will be crucial to meeting rising Middle Eastern and global energy demand over the coming years," explained Dr. Tim Marchant, President, BP Kuwait.

The major Gulf producers have announced plan to increase oil production capacity by more than 50% by 2020, equivalent to an unprecedented average of 1 million barrels/day of net productive capacity per year. These plans take on new significance in light of increasing global energy demand and domestic and international economic growth.

"BP has significantly increased recovery factors from its oil and gas fields around the world through the application of leading edge technologies and field management processes. Our aim is to work in partnership with national oil companies and governments to maximise their resources and meet expansion targets by sharing BP's global expertise and upstream technologies,"

Marchant said.

"An area where BP sees particularly strong potential for cooperation is in what we call 'difficult hydrocarbons', that is non-conventional oil and gas such as tight and sour gas, and hard to recover oil beyond normally achievable 35-40% recoveries."

BP believes the Middle East has vast resources of 'difficult hydrocarbons' which have not yet been developed because they pose significant technical challenges.

One example where BP's extraordinary recovery technologies have made a difference is the super-giant Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska which, given its characteristics, would normally yield a 'standard' recovery of less than 40%, whereas in reality the field is set to recover around 65% of in-place reserves.

Other technologies BP has developed over the past decade and deployed in the field includes Improved Waterflood Recovery. With Waterflooding, water is injected into the reservoir to "sweep" out any residual oil. BP's Enhanced Waterflooding Technology significantly improves sweep efficiency allowing for greater amounts of oil to be displaced and ultimately extracted.

BP is also pioneering the research and development into methods for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide in combination with enhanced oil recovery. "Removing carbon dioxide from produced natural gas and reinjecting it into oil reservoirs results in the double benefit of reducing pollution and maximising recovery from producing fields," Marchant explained.

The world's first industrial scale carbon capture project is being lead by BP at In Salah in Algeria, where the removal of carbon dioxide from extracted natural gas currently amounts to the equivalent of taking 200,000 cars off the road. The carbon dioxide is reinjected into a sandstone reservoir where it is permanently stored.

"We know there are still significant oil and gas reserves that can help meet the rising demand for energy. These reserves contain more difficult oil than in the past, but thanks to significant advances in oilfield technology we are increasingly able to optimise production from mature oilfields," concluded Marchant.