title: Recovery rates, enhanced oil recovery and technological limits.
abstract: Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques can significantly extend global oil reserves once oil prices are high enough to make these techniques economic. Given a broad consensus that we have entered a period of supply constraints, operators can at last plan on the assumption that the oil price is likely to remain relatively high. This, coupled with the realization that new giant fields are becoming increasingly difficult to find, is creating the conditions for extensive deployment of EOR. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the nature, status and prospects for EOR technologies. It explains why the average oil recovery factor worldwide is only between 20% and 40%, describes the factors that contribute to these low recoveries and indicates which of those factors EOR techniques can affect. The paper then summarizes the breadth of EOR processes, the history of their application and their current status. It introduces two new EOR technologies that are beginning to be deployed and which look set to enter mainstream application. Examples of existing EOR projects in the mature oil province of the North Sea are discussed. It concludes by summarizing the future opportunities for the development and deployment of EOR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College, , London SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muggeridge
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cockin
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Webb
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Frampton
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moulds
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salino
keywords: chemical flooding; crude oil recovery; enhanced oil recovery; miscible gas; water alternating gas; water injection