Companies in the Middle East are looking at nanotechnology as a solution to achieve maximum oil recovery.
8The implications of applying nanotechnology to enhance oil and gas recovery are very exciting.
8Nanotechnology may help achieve things that once seemed impossible.
8The right design of nano particles can stabilize foams and emulsions in the reservoir to improve sweep efficiency and recover oil from otherwise bypassed zones.
8Foam flooding as a mechanism to EOR has been intensively studied and is the subject of multiple research groups.
8However, limited stability of surfactant-generated foam in the presence of oil and the low chemical stability of surfactants in the high-temperature and high-salinity conditions of an oil reservoir are among the reasons for foam EOR not being widely applied in the field.
8Shell's studies have suggested that synthesized nano particles with altered surface properties can aid foam generation and increase foam stability in porous media.
8Shell have focused on a silica-based nano particle that is available in large quantities and can be processed economically without separate surface treatment.
8This gives it the potential to become a practical solution in the field.
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Domestic petroleum product consumption registered a robust 5.5 % growth in July 2015 as compared to corresponding month in the pervious year.
8POL products here includes LPG, naphtha, MS (petrol), ATF, SKO (kerosene), HSD (diesel), LDO, FO/LSHS, bitumen and lubes as well as greases.
8On a cumulative basis, except for HSD and SKO, all other products have recorded a positive growth.
8The cumulative growth rate is 6.0%.
8The monthly POL consumption was 14 MMT in July 2015.
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Italian oil and gas major ENI has made a world class super giant gas discovery at its Zohr Prospect, in the deep waters of Egypt.
8The discovery well Zohr 1X NFW is located in the economic waters of Egypt’s Offshore Mediterranean, in 4,757 feet of water depth (1,450 metres), in the Shorouk Block.
8The discovery could hold a potential of 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas in place (5.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent in place) covering an area of about 100 square kilometres.
8Zohr is the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea and could become one of the world’s largest natural-gas finds.8This exploration success will give a major contribution in satisfying Egypt’s natural gas demand for decades.
8Zohr 1X NFW was drilled to a total depth of approximately 13,553 feet (4,131 metres) and hit 2,067 feet (630 metres) of hydrocarbon column in a carbonate sequence of Miocene age with excellent 2 reservoir characteristics (400 metres plus of net pay).
Comment: In today's difficult environment, this is a real piece of good news. Given the massive reserves, the cost of production is expected to be economical. And this will add to the global gas supply matrix and keep prices under check by the time it comes on production.
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IOCL has chalked out a plan to revamp its existing INDMAX unit at Guwahati refinery, and enhance its capacity from 0.1 MMTPA to 0.15 MMTPA.
8The revamp project is being implemented for the improvement of profitability through the production of high value product like LPG and Gasoline.
8In addition to that, with the use of the new feed injectors and stripper internals supplied by Lummus Technology, the yields of high-value products like LPG and gasoline are going to increase after the revamp.
8INDMAX is a catalytic cracking process to produce very high yield of light olefins and high octane gasoline from various hydrocarbon fractions. The INDMAX unit is similar to that of a conventional fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) unit.
8The original crude oil processing capacity at the refinery was of 0.75 MMTPA which has been subsequently increased to 1.00 MMTPA.
8The crude oil is supplied from Assam fields by OIL through a crosscountry pipeline..
Existing area of the unit is 5200 m2 and there is no additional land required for the project revampment.
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Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) proposes to lay a 42 inch crude oil pipe line from Chennai Port to its refinery at Manali.
8This will replace the existing 30” crude oil pipeline and will help improve productivity and cater to expanded refinery capacity.
8The station pipeline will be laid from the Bharti dock (BD-III) to BD-I (above ground) and then from BD-I to the land fall point.
8In addition to that, another station pipeline will be laid from the landfall point to the scrapper launching barrel area (above/underground).
8This will be followed by another pipeline laid from the scrapper receiving barrel (SRB) station boundary to the Hook-up point.
8Whereas the main line will be laid from scrapper launching barrel (SLB) inside Chennai Port Trust to the scrapper receiving barrel (SRB) station inside the CPCL, Manali Refinery.
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The government has launched the India Energy Security Scenarios 2047 Version 2.0 -- a predictive software tool under the ambit of NITI Ayog -- that looks at oil and gas demand, supply and possible price movements up to the year 2047 under four different scenarios.
8There is a Level 1 scenario where there is no improvement in recovery factors and no fields come into production barring the ones for which investment decisions have already been taken. The recovery factor has been assumed almost constant, that is 28% for oil and 55% for gas. Level 2 assumes some technological improvements and is called a ‘Determined Effort’ scenario allows for minor improvement in the recovery factor of 30% for oil and 60% for gas. Level 3 is an ‘Aggressive Effort’ scenario, where the recovery of 35% for oil and 70% for gas is assumed. while Level-4 is a ’Heroic Effort’ scenario where the recovery factor is 40% for oil and 80% for gas.
8What is played around with is the recovery factor while keeping the growth rate the initial in-place reserves at the historical level of 2.55%. This figure however may or may not improve depending upon the environment, regulatory regime and investments made in the E&P sector. The share of these reserves is taken as 9.5 billion tonnes of oil (40%) and that of gas at 14.25 billion tonnes (60%).
8Level 1 will eventually allow for a crude production of 34 MMT per annum in 2047, 59 MMT, 68 MMT and 78 MMT respectively under the other three scenarios.
8It is on the gas production front where the four scenarios bring about dramatic results. Annual output will be 81.5 BCM under the business as usual mode in 2047, 127.5 BCM under a determined effort basis, 170.5 BCM if an aggressive effort is put in and 224.5 BCM under the heroic effort scenario.
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Subsequent to a series of deaths for mishaps directly accountable to criminal neglect of safety norms, the Gas Authority of India (GAIL) brass is undertaking a series of safety audits of all its installations.
8The gas major is now now embarking on a tighter safety audit of its accident prone gas processing units, including associated facilities.
8All national gas compressor stations and their associated facilities will also be audited.
8Audit will also be carried out of pipelines and installations related to pipelines
8The gas processing plants in Vijaipur, Gandhar and Vaghodia will be audited once every year for next two years.
8Audits will also be undertaken in compressor stations and its associated facilities at 8 locations, involving Hazira, Jhabua, Khera, Vijaipur, Vaghodia, Dibiyapur, Kailaras and Chainsa.
8Audit will be carried out once every year over the next three years
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A cursory look at HOEC's balance sheet will show a whole lot of red ink splashed all over it.
Losses were at an incredible Rs 1221 crore on revenues of mere Rs 47.9 crore.
8This was on account of an impairment load of a massive Rs 1163 crore resulting from a re-estimation of reserves in PY field where production has shut down and because the PY-3 and CB-OS-1 fields were uneconomical to develop because of the crash in crude prices.
8But the silver lining comes from the fact that the Italian oil major ENI, which has a 47.18% stake in HOEC, has waived off the loan of Rs 960 crore, which was transferred to capital reserves in FY15.
The Q1 2015-16 figures are now looking better with a profit of just 50 lacs on a revenue base of 10.06 crore.
8The advantage is that the company has a debit free balance sheet where operating revenues are now meeting opex and it has got a BBB+ rating from ICRA for a Rs 100 crore long term debt propsal.
8The working capital position as of now is a positive Rs 130 crore.
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Oil India Limited intends to drill seven Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) wells in Baghjan area in the prospective Tinsukia district in Assam.
8The price tag is Rs 280 crore.
8The wells are being drilled below the Dibru-Saikhowa national park with the Dangori river in the south and Brahmaputra in north.
8The part is out of bounds for drilling and that's the reason why the ERDs are being drilled.
8Oil India Ltd is of the view that there is a strong possibility that there are hydrocarbons below the park and beyond the mining lease demarcation of the Bhagjan block.
8Currently 5000 bbl of oil has been produced from 19 wells in Baghjan region per day.
8The seven locations are planned from the existing three well plinths
8The wells will extend 2 km into the forest
8Thetarget depth is 3950 m.
8A total in-place resource of 11.5 MMSKLS has been estimated for the identified prospects. The recoverable resources are estimated at 3.45 MMSKLS.
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So how will the supply integration happen?
8This will be done by constructing a heat traced pipeline in Mumbai and Kochi to transfer these high pour point, high viscosity products.
8The pipeline from the BPCL's Mumbai refinery will take it to the local port and then ferried by coastal shipping to Kochi where a similar pipeline will take it into the refinery.
8During turnarounds, in case of a shortfall, products will move from Kochi to Mumbai if there is a requirement.
8The existing pipelines to the ports from the two refineries transfer only low poor intermediates
8Only a heat traced pipeline can transfer high viscosity products.
8Around 400 TMT of HSVR (roughly about 34 TMT a month), 170 to 220 TMT of LSHS (14 to 18 TMT per month) will be loaded from the Mumbai refinery for arrival at Kochi through the new electrically traced pipeline at the Old Prpau jetty.
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The marketing trio of IOC, BPCL and HPCL have come out with a big tender for ethanol that is required by statute for blending with petrol as part of the government's drive to promote bio-fuels.
8In all, 26.56 lakh KL of ethanol will be bought. Of this, IOC will buy 12.51 lakh KL of ethanol, followed by BPCL and HPCL at around 7 lakh KL each.
8In addition to ethanol produced from molasses, ethanol produced from other non-food feed stocks besides molasses like cellulosic and lingo cellulosic materials and even ethanol made through the petrochemical route will be allowed subject to meeting the relevant BIS standards.
8Location wise procurement of ethanol has carried on our Reports section.
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The RIL-BP-Niko combine has decided to test the waters for new prices for E&P equipment and services.
8It has asked for EOIs for an entire range of E&P equipment and services to arrive at new pricing levels for its exploration and production activities in all its blocks in the face of sharply falling prices. The last date for submission is end of August.
8The interest elicited in these tenders will set the tone for pricing of E&P equipment and services in India for the next two ot three years.
8Oil field equipment and service costs have registered a steep decline, ranging from 20 to 30% and in some cases even more.
8RIL, who is the operator for the Indian blocks, is known to drive hard bargains. The company is also trying to leverage its partnership with BP to leverage the fall in prices.
8Given the current state of global markets for equipment and services, the deflation in exploration and production costs is likely to continue over the next two to three years.
8Assuming a 25% initial deflation and going up to 30% over the development cycle of deepwater gas discoveries in the KG basin, the development cost for the RIL-BP combine can come down dramatically.
8RIL had last year estimated the break even cost of its deepwater discoveries will be more than $10/mmbtu.
8But these calculations will now change in the light of the new situation.
If prices for equipment and services continue to fall, the break even cost can in fact come down to around $7.5/mmbtu.
8Will this make the discoveries viable? This will clearly depend on the landed cost of LNG in India but assuming that Henry Hub prices do not decline from current levels of around $2.8/mmbtu, the cost economics would clearly depend on the "premium" that is meant to be given by the government for these discoveries.
8As it is, breaking even is going to be a tough call for deepwater plays, particularly in India given that they are tight oil reservoirs which are HPHT in nature.
8The rapid decline in the D-1 and D-3 fields go to indicate that keeping production going in these reservoirs is a tough job even for a company like BP with all the technology in their hand.
8In this context, the government's move to provide a "premium" as a percentage of the gas produced that can be priced at market rates may not make economic sense in today's environment.
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Gautam Adani's MOU for a massive Rs 25,000 crore investment in a coal to poly-generation plant in Chhattisgarh
8The complex will produce power but also syn gas that is going to be used to produce urea.
8A polygeneration plant, as its name implies, is one that simultaneously produces two or more marketable products.
8In Adani's case, electric power will be one of the products. Importantly, most of the process steps in a polygeneration plant involve commercially proven technologies. The advantage is that these technology modules can be interconnected in different configurations to produce the required products.
8How does the technology work? Coal is first gasified to produce synthesis gas (syngas, consisting primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide), which is subsequently cooled and cleaned. A portion of the syngas can be used directly in the gas turbines of an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant (if CO2 capture is not required) to generate electricity. The rest passes through a shift reactor to adjust the molar H2:CO ratio to the required value. The cleaned and shifted syngas is then utilised to produce the desired products (electric power, H2, liquid fuels and chemicals, icnluding urea).
8In addition, a number of by-products, such as sulphur or sulphuric acid, can be generated for sale.
Comment: Clearly this is a new concept in India. The technology is still to be tested on high ash content coal in India and coal availability will always be an issue for all coal gasification projects. But if a project of this kind has to be successful then it requires a well connected industrialist like Adani to push it to fruition. Coal gasification is the only way most of the urea is made in China but the cost economics of such a technology is still to be worked out in India. A polygeneration plant goes a step ahead of coal gasification, so all that the urea industry in India can do is to wait and watch which way the wind blows.
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Having successfully raised $ 30 million in funds, Oilex, the operator of the Cambay onland block, is now focusing on creating value through increasing production and cashflow in India while also striving to bring down costs and develop additional hydrocarbon production from legacy wells at Cambay.
8The Cambay-73 well continues to produce gas for the low pressure market in the immediate vicinity of the field at 26 boepd with 100% availability.
8A temporary pipeline from a new well Cambay-77H site to Cambay-73 production facility has been completed as part of a gas gathering system to assist in meeting market demand.
8Three legacy wells have been connected to this pipeline and provide additional gas to the low pressure market via the Cambay-73 production facility.
8In addition, subsequent to the installation of a production tree and production tubing, Cambay-77H will be connected to the temporary pipeline to service the low pressure market via Cambay-73, without having to construct a dedicated low pressure production facility at the Cambay-77H site.
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