14 DAY TRIAL // A team of experts has recently established a new organization meant to promote research, development and innovation in the field of prospecting for, and extracting oil and natural gas.
The international Center for Drilling and Wells for Improved Recovery is supported by a number of organizations and universities in Norway, including the universities in Trondheim and Stavanger.
Such an initiative is unique in the oil industry. More than 300 experts from around the world will be working together for the first time, researching new technologies related to fossil fuel exploration.
According to experts in the oil industry, an attempt at cooperation of this magnitude has yet to be attempted before. The new Center will include laboratories and full-scale facilities that have an approved R&D volume of about NOK500 million.
“According to Norwegian authorities (NPD), further advances in drilling and wells are the most important areas to hinder the rapid decline in oil and gas production from the Norwegian Continental Shelf,” says the Norwegian Minister for Research and Higher Education, Tora Aasland.
“Internationally, the recent oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico also underlines the importance of continued and reinforced focus on technology in drilling and wells in order to maintain and continue to improve safety for personnel and the environment in future oil and gas activities,” the official reveals.
“Drilling and well technology should also provide the foundation required for the knowledge needed in future research into renewable sources such as geothermal energy,” Aasland says.
Improving the rate of oil and natural gas recovery is largely dependent on three major factors – drilling, wells and well architecture. It's here that massive improvements are possible.
Each single year, drilling and oil exploration costs about NOK75 billion ($12.5 billion) in the Norwegian Continental Shelf, and scientists say that there is massive room for improvement.
According to the NPD, it would appear that even a one percent increase in oil and natural gas production levels could translate in gains equaling as much as $16 to 25 billion each year.
In other words, the main goal of the new Center is to increase recovery rates, from the current 46 percent level to as much as 66 percent. This could translate in serious net gains in the long run, AlphaGalileo reports.