Latest Technologies Can Raise Arab Oil Reserves: OAPEC

Latest technologies can raise Arab oil reserves: OAPEC

KUWAIT CITY, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) — The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) said using latest petroleum extraction technologies will raise oil reserves volume in its member states.

The OAPEC said in its October bulletin that the volume of confirmed OAPEC oil reserves are 650 billion barrels, while its geological oil reserves are 2,420 billion barrels.

The confirmed OAPEC reserves, with the exception of natural gas, account for 59 percent of world reserves.

It said the 2,420 billion barrels of geological reserves, applying the current production methods through pumping water and gas, will leave around 1,516 billion barrels underground.

Experts believed the confirmed reserves may be higher by as much as 15 percent, through utilization of the latest technologies and methods in the field of exploration and production, increasing OAPEC’s confirmed reserves by another 300 billion barrels.

At least part of the reserves may be targets for extraction methods such as the injection of vapor to increase oil liquidity, burning some crude oil within the well, injecting gases such as hydrocarbon, carbon dioxide and nitrogen or using chemical methods for increasing oil flow.

OAPEC added that according to estimates of the French Petroleum Institute, the added cost of using such extraction technologies would be between 2 to 12 US dollars per barrel, which would be less than the cost of exploration and production in difficult terrains.

The economic logic indicates that it is important to give priority to extraction investments so as to increase the world’s confirmed reserves.

Energy projects around the world using petroleum extraction technologies by the end of 2004 was estimated at 2.5 million barrels per day.