The CERE Discussion Meeting 2014 was held from June 25 – June 27 2014 at Comwell Borupgaard, Snekkersten. 40 external participants representing 19 companies, 3 foreign university groups, and 13 nationalities attended.
Gearing up on Complex Energy Challenges
Shale gas, CO2 based Enhanced Oil Recovery, and oil and gas exploration at large depths, are examples of the challenging issues facing industry today – reflected at this years’ version of CERE’s prime event.
With no less than 40 external participants, representing 19 energy corporations and other industry from 13 countries, the 2014 version of CERE’s Discussion Meeting is yet another summit of energy resources engineering.
“This event demonstrates that CERE is second to none. If not, our colleagues from energy corporations around the world wouldn’t show up,” says Dr. Vural Sander Suicmez, senior reservoir engineer at DBU Subsurface Development, Maersk Oil.
A large proportion of the 2014 event is dedicated to un-conventional carbon-hydrate resources, and to conventional recovery under high pressure or otherwise challenging conditions.
“Such complex issues have always appealed to academia, but actually I find this focus is also reflecting the demands of industry. Shale gas, HPHT, and otherwise challenging resources are becoming an ever larger part of the business,” Dr. Suicmez comments.
Reality check in flow assurance
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Chevron Energy Technology develops and manages technology to help find and produce new oil and gas reserves, enhance recovery in existing fields, and optimize productivity of downstream assets.
“One of the advantages of being in the CERE industrial Consortium is that we get access to new simulation tools. Modern recovery takes place under complex conditions, often under very high pressures, and it is just not possible for us to measure everything,” explains Dr. Samer O. Derawi, senior flow assurance engineer at Chevron.
“Besides modelling, which is one of my job responsibilities within Chevron, we are also keen to take advantage of independent experimental results. We rely on conventional anti-freeze chemicals for flow assurance, primarily for inhibition of gas hydrate formation. Often we will be approached by the chemical vendor who claims to have developed improved versions of their products. Is this true or not? CERE can provide us with a reality check.”
Dr. Derawi follows the efforts at CERE around inorganic scale and low dosage hydrate inhibitors with special interest.
“Presently we trust the conventional products, but it would be interesting for us if alternative inhibitors can be found which will be effective in much smaller volumes.”
“CERE should be proud”
While not a member of the CERE industrial Consortium, several representatives of the Danish Energy Agency took part in the 2014 Discussion Meeting.
“The production of oil and gas from the North Sea represents substantial value and has a major effect on the Danish economy,” says Geologist Flemming Ole Rasmussen, Danish Energy Agency.
Current estimates by the agency predicts a final recovery rate of 26 % to be reached as production in the Danish part of the North Sea is expected to be terminated some decades ahead.
“This may sound like a meagre result, and if you consider the issue superficially, you would think that almost nothing has been achieved, as a recovery rate of that magnitude was expected for a long time. However, we should not forget that the total reserve estimates have been largely increased over the latest decades. Fields that were previously considered impossible to produce, and which thus were not counted in the reserves, are now included. So a recovery rate of, say, 26 % corresponds to a far higher total figure than it did earlier. This has tremendous economic impacts, and I think CERE should be proud of having contributed to these improvements in technology.”
A fine venue for recruitment
With a staff above 120,000 worldwide, Oil Field Services consultants Schlumberger is a major employer in energy engineering, not least in the fields addressed by CERE.
“The Discussion Meeting is a fine opportunity to meet young people that could be interesting for us to recruit,” says Dr. Simon Ivar Andersen of Schlumberger, adding smilingly:
“And also people that are not quite so young.”
“Further, CERE has always been dynamic and able to generate collaboration and attract funding. For instance the new center for applied oil and gas research at DTU (the Danish Hydrocarbon Research & Technology Centre, Ed.) has strong participation from CERE. It is something that is followed with great interest from people in the business, also outside Denmark.”
Georgios Kontogeorgis new head of CERE
The Danish Hydrocarbon Research & Technology Centre is a national research center headquartered at DTU. Professor Erling H. Stenby has been appointed Scientific Director for Enhanced Oil Recovery at the new center, and thus chaired the Discussion Meeting for the last time. Having held the position as CERE chairman since 1994, he passes the torch to Professor Georgios Kontogeorgis.
“It was a great pleasure for me to see the Discussion Meeting reflecting the dynamic creation of Joint Industry Projects (JIP’s) in recent years,” says Georgios Kontogeorgis, who also coordinates the longest standing JIP at CERE, the CHIGP (Chemicals in Gas Processing).
“The young projects are highly interdisciplinary as was the intention behind CERE. For instance this is true for the new JIP on oil field optimization, OPTION. Also BioRec, SmartWater, and NextOil, all addressing novel approaches to oil and gas recovery, include faculty from several DTU departments, just as a range of members from the industrial Consortium are engaged.”
“Finally, I noticed a high degree of interest from the Consortium members around Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). At CERE we have always given high priority to CCS research, but over the latest years we have seen some setbacks in public funding and interest from industry. However, judging from the strong interest at this years’ conference, as you could see around the presentation given by Gassnova on the subject, this field is very much alive,” Professor Kontogeorgis concludes.
Norway leads in carbon capture
Gassnova, the Norwegian state enterprise for CCS, advices the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy on CCS and manages the state interests in related projects. The company is the majority owner of Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), which has been in operation for about two years and has operated the project planning of full scale projects like Kårstø and Mongstad. TCM has two carbon capture testing facilities, which combined has a capacity of 100,000 tons of CO2 yearly. These activities are at the forefront of international CCS development.
“The group at CERE is known for developing thermodynamic models that are very useful for us. Experimental testing is costly. Each time you can achieve your results by computing instead you have saved a lot of money,” says Dr. Muhammad Ismail Shah of Gassnova.
“Especially the developments in models that are able to handle CO2 capture, including the chilled ammonia process which is used at one of the two Norwegian plants, and electrolyte systems are of great interest to us. CERE is providing us with good tools, and we provide them with actual plant data – non-confidential - which they can use for validating their models. Both sides are necessary for obtaining the overall understanding of the processes and for developing still better tools for simulation and design of carbon capture facilities.”
The French connection
With more than 1,600 employees and a plus 300 million EUR budget, the IFP Energies Nouvelles is one of the leading players in energy innovation in France.
“In many respects what we do in my department is similar to what is done at CERE, for instance within thermodynamics, EOR, geology, geophysics, and other fields. Thus it is highly beneficial to cooperate,” says Dr. Pascal Mougin of IFP Energies Nouvelles.
“To give an example, I just learned today that CERE is initiating a project very similar to one we are about to start. Both parties can gain from coordinating the academic background core for the experiments. Another joint activity is the exchange of students. We have had a few exchanges and are looking forward to more.”
Open to industry suggestions
Dr. Vural Sander Suicmez of Maersk Oil attends the Discussion Meeting for his first time.
“I find the event well organized. With the spread of interests between the various participants it is always a balance between general and detailed content. For instance, as a petroleum engineer I found some of the geology content too detailed for me, but I respect that other participants demand that kind of detail. I don’t think you could have less detail considering the size of the Consortium. Further, the parallel sessions give you an opportunity to swap between sessions to optimize your outcome.”
Maersk Oil, also a partner in the new Danish Hydrocarbon Research & Technology Centre, presented several wishes for future activities at CERE.
“We are pleased that the Discussion Meeting is open to industry suggestions. But of course we also have to respect what the other member companies will have to say,” Dr. Suicmez underlines.
“The broad range of participating companies implies that no single company can expect to have all its wishes fulfilled. This is a fact that I am happy to accept, since it is really beneficial to have a wide range of companies in the Consortium. The conference is a good platform for networking. We have the chance of discussing various issues with our colleagues in other companies.”