AN ADDITIONAL 900 million barrels of oil could still be extracted from the North Sea if companies can improve their operations, according to new estimates from regulator the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), whose chair said it could be a “significant prize” in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).
Andy Samuel was speaking after the OGA estimated that increasing the recovery factor (RF) – the overall proportion of oil that can realistically be extracted from a field – could reap rewards.
The RF in the UKCS has traditionally been around 42 per cent to 43 per cent, which means that 57 per cent of all oil will remain in the ground.
This has remained roughly the same over the years despite improvements in the technology used.
Now the OGA has set a target of raising the factor by 2020, and by looking at the potential that exists in a small number of fields, it has estimated that an additional 900 million barrels of oil could potentially be produced if the RF was increased.
Samuel said: “This new benchmarking analysis further underlines the significant prize remaining across the UKCS, in this case across a number of producing fields.
“The OGA will be sharing our results with operators to highlight and quantify opportunities where increasing recovery factor should lead to increased value.
“These data help us understand RF performance across the basin, prioritise our asset stewardship reviews with operators and identify new opportunities for improvement and sharing good practices.”
Dave Lynch, BP’s vice president of reservoir development, said: “The recovery factor benchmarking analysis produced by the OGA will be of huge value to highlight and develop the potential in existing, producing fields.
“We will be using this benchmarking work within BP to maximise economic recovery from our assets.”
The recovery factor benchmark report marked the successful delivery of a major contract for the specialist upstream oil and gas consultancy, Belltree, which developed the bMark software used to develop the standards.
Rod Clark, managing director of the Edinburgh-based company, said: “The success of the OGA contract illustrates the manner in which bMark is helping to optimise portfolio management and asset stewardship for our clients worldwide.
“By highlighting fields that are underperforming with respect to their potential, benchmarking techniques allow value to be maximised, not just for private company portfolios, but also for oil and gas producing countries through enhanced asset stewardship.”
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