Petronas' EOR project in Tapis to boost oil production

by **Cals** Wed 25 Sep 2013, 17:03

Published: Wednesday September 25, 2013 MYT 11:33:00 AM
Updated: Wednesday September 25, 2013 MYT 3:33:46 PM
Petronas' EOR project in Tapis to boost oil production

JOHOR BAHARU: Petroliam Nasional Bhd expects Malaysia’s first large scale enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project to boost oil production at the Tapis oilfield offshore peninsular Malaysia by up to 35,000 barrels per day from between 3,000 and 4,000 barrels currently.
Head of EOR programme, exploration and production technology division Dr Nasir Darman said using the water-alternating-gas (WAG) injection measure, the depleting Tapis oilfield will be injected with gases from nearby Guntong oilfield to increase pressure and enhance oil production.
Production, he added, is expected to start in the first half of next year. “At peak, the project is expected to produce between 25,000 and 35,000 barrels per day of oil in 2016 and 2017,” he told reporters in a briefing at the Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Bhd (MMHE) fabrication yard here on Tuesday.
Nasir said the EOR technology uses gas, chemical injection and thermal flooding to improve oil recovery from industry norms of 20-35 per cent to 30-50 per cent.
He said the technology increases the economic value of the oil well, thus extending the life of the oilfield to another 30 years.
Since production started in 1978, approximately 400 million barrels of oil has been extracted at the Tapis oilfield, peaking in the 1980s, where production was at between 70,000 to 80,000 barrels per day.

Meanwhile, Tapis project manager from ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Zaba Abd Rahim said the central processing platform for the project, Tapis R, was the largest topside ever built by the company in Malaysia.

At a later event, Petronas, ExxonMobil and MMHE celebrated the substantial completion of Tapis-R, which is scheduled to be installed on its jacket early next year after the monsoon season.
Developed at a cost of RM10 billion, the Tapis EOR project is one of the world’s largest WAG projects implemented offshore. - Bernama

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