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Technique could add "tens of billion of barrels" to Saudi oil reserves -- WSJ mongabay July 10, 2006 An oil recovery technique using steam injection could add "tens of billion of barrels" to Saudi Arabia's reserves said Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Chevron has used the technique in other parts of the world to boost production of heavy oil. A Chevron engineer told the paper that the oil firm was able to recover "80% of the oil from some reservoirs in the California oil fields, compared with 15% in the pre-steam days." The Saudi government hopes the process will produce similar results in the oil-rich kingdom -- some estimate that yields could jump from 3% to 40% in the Wafra oil field. High prices change energy economics The story shows that high oil prices will continue to drive drillers to pursue traditionally marginal sources of energy, even ones that a particularly difficult to recover and refine. In the case of heavy oils. which are more costly to bring to the surface than light oils, their high content of impurities like metals and sulfur require special refining equipment to convert the crude into useful products like gasoline, jet fuel and heating oil.
In a paper written earlier this year, researchers from the Earth Institute at Columbia University said that this does not have to be the case, arguing that coal, tar sands, and oil shale can be extracted and used at a lower cost to the environment than some might expect. They noted that given the abundant supply of alternative energy sources, over the long-term, the limiting factor presented in increased use of fossil fuels "is environmental rather than one of availability." Nevertheless, it seems likely that as long as fossil fuels are available in the ground and available at a lower cost than other energy sources, someone is going to exploit them. One of the most important areas of research in the future will be minimizing the global impact of this use. This article used information from "Saudi Arabia Tests Its Potential For Unlocking Heavy-Oil Reserves" by BHUSHAN BAHREE in New York and RUSSELL GOLD. The article appeared in the July 10, 2006 edition of The Wall Street Journal. Recommend this article? Comments? >Digg this article | >Hugg this article | Contact News options
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