| RIYADH, June 5: Heavy crude is beginning to play a more significant role in the evolving global energy mix. There is a growing consensus that despite the fact that large volume of crude is available beneath the surface, yet neither the most-sought-after light grades are not easily available nor the grades available are easily accessible.
“As production is maturing at older fields, that’s where future capacity lies,” Samuel Ciszuk, an energy analyst at IHS Global Insight in London, said of heavy oil. “It’s less valuable crude, and it’s more difficult to produce.” A look at the globally accessible crude reserves indicates the dominance of heavier quality – and interestingly, the energy-rich Middle East dominates the dots. The region is estimated to have in place 1,000 billion barrels of heavy oil, which is equivalent to 28 per cent of the estimated world total reserves.
Despite this immense resource base heavy oil and natural bitumen accounted for only 3 billion of the 25 billion barrels of crude oil produced by the beginning of this millennium. Much still needs to be made accessible.
The two-day conference, Heavy Oil World MENA–2010 was held earlier this week in Bahrain focussing on the region’s riches of this grade of crude.The conference, looked at ways of accessing the untapped heavy oil resources across the region, examining how the technology, already in use elsewhere in the world, can be applied to the region to practically double the regional hydrocarbon reserves.
Heavy oil takes more work to extract and yields less valuable refined products than easier flowing light oil, can cost more to produce, depending on the location and technology needed to pump it.
“The vast reserve demonstrates the importance of heavy oil as a future energy source, one that cannot be overlooked and, therefore, companies that position themselves early in the heavy oil business are likely to win the game,” the Bahraini Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and National Oil and Gas Authority chairman Dr Abdul Hussain Mirza emphasised while inaugurating the conference.
“Heavy oil will be a saviour to the ever-increasing demand for fossil fuels from the developing nations,” he emphasised.
The region is already working to develop its heavier riches. Saudi Arabia aims to develop heavy crude at deposits such as Manifa and is planning refineries to process the oil.
Aramco is developing two 400,000 bpd refineries to process heavy crude at Jubail and Yanbu and is also working on a third facility at Jizan in the country’s south. Kuwait is in talks with US oil major Exxon Mobil and French giant Total to make the most of its heavy oil deposits and boost its production capacity by 50 per cent to 4mbd by 2020. Chevron has been conducting a pilot project for about a year pumping steam into the Wafra oil deposit shared by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to force more crude out and full operation using the technology at the field could start by 2017.
Bahrain’s National Oil and Gas Authority signed an agreement with the Abu Dhabi state enterprise Mubadala and the US oil group Occidental Petroleum to establish Tatweer Petroleum as a joint venture to develop the Bahrain field. The oil field, also called Awali, was the first discovered in the Gulf, in 1932. It produces 32,000 barrels per day (bpd).
riyadh, june 5: heavy crude is beginning to play a more significant role in the evolving global energy mix. there is a growing consen- sus that despite the fact that large volume of crude is available beneath the surface, yet nei- ther the most-sought-after light grades are not easily available nor the grades available are easily accessible. “as production is maturing at older fields, that’s where future capacity lies,” samuel ciszuk, an energy analyst at ihs global insight in london, said of heavy oil. “it’s less valuable crude, and it’s more difficult to produce.” a look at the globally accessible crude re- serves indicates the dominance of heavier quality – and interestingly, the energy-rich middle east dominates the dots. the region is estimated to have in place 1,000 billion barrels of heavy oil, which is equivalent to 28 per cent of the estimated world total reserves. despite this immense resource base heavy oil and natural bitumen accounted for only 3 billion of the 25 billion barrels of crude oil pro- duced by the beginning of this millennium. much still needs to be made accessible. the two-day conference, heavy oil world mena–2010 was held earlier this week in bahrain focussing on the region’s riches of this grade of crude.the conference, looked at ways of accessing the untapped heavy oil resources across the region, examining how the technol- ogy, already in use elsewhere in the world, can be applied to the region to practically double the regional hydrocarbon reserves. heavy oil takes more work to extract and yields less valuable refined products than eas- ier flowing light oil, can cost more to produce, depending on the location and technology needed to pump it. “the vast reserve demonstrates the impor- tance of heavy oil as a future energy source, one that cannot be overlooked and, therefore, companies that position themselves early in the heavy oil business are likely to win the game,” the bahraini oil and gas affairs minister and national oil and gas authority chairman dr abdul hussain mirza emphas- ised while inaugurating the conference. “heavy oil will be a saviour to the ever-in- creasing demand for fossil fuels from the de- veloping nations,” he emphasised. the region is already working to develop its heavier riches. saudi arabia aims to develop heavy crude at deposits such as manifa and is planning refineries to process the oil. aramco is developing two 400,000 bpd refin- eries to process heavy crude at jubail and yanbu and is also working on a third facility at jizan in the country’s south. kuwait is in talks with us oil major exxon mobil and french giant total to make the most of its heavy oil de- posits and boost its production capacity by 50 per cent to 4mbd by 2020. chevron has been conducting a pilot project for about a year pumping steam into the wafra oil deposit shared by saudi arabia and kuwait to force more crude out and full operation using the technology at the field could start by 2017. bahrain’s national oil and gas authority signed an agreement with the abu dhabi state enterprise mubadala and the us oil group occidental petroleum to establish tatweer petroleum as a joint venture to develop the bahrain field. the oil field, also called awali, was the first discovered in the gulf, in 1932. it produces 32,000 barrels per day (bpd). |
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