UAE seeks technology partnerships for post easy-oil era, Energy Minister says

The United Arab Emirates, the fourth largest oil producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is seeking partnership with international energy companies to access the technology required to expand production capacity in the era of post-easy oil, the country's energy minister said yesterday. For much of the 20th century, the Gulf has been blessed with a steady flow of low-cost oil and gas production, thanks to its abundance of conventional reservoirs - in parts of Iraq crude oil has been known to bubble to the surface without any assistance. But as a relatively mature oil producing region, there is renewed focus on improving recovery from the Middle East's largest fields. "Over the years, oil and gas has become more challenging to produce, and the UAE has embraced this challenge with the development of increasingly complex fields such as ultra-sour gas reservoirs," Mohammed Bin Dhaen Al-Hameli told the audience of energy industry executives at The 3rd Gulf Intelligence UAE Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi. "More than ever, the UAE is looking for oil majors, service companies and technology suppliers that are able to help the nation develop new projects," he said. The US Geological Survey estimates there are some 3 trillion barrels of heavy oil in the world, about 100 years of global consumption at current levels. The catch: only a fraction of it - about 400 billion barrels - can be recovered using existing technology. New techniques are required to unlock more. But with ageing reservoirs and prices at US$100 per barrel, the economics of using enhanced oil recovery to go after heavy oil extraction has become more attractive. "Global Enhanced oil recovery spending has leapt from a standing start over the past decade to almost US$100bn and is expected to continue growing rapidly with the support of government investment as we have seen in Oman, the UAE and now Saudi Arabia," said Stuart Walley, regional manager for Senergy in the Middle East and India. The world's largest reservoirs, such as Kuwait's Burgan, Abu Dhabi's Upper Zakum and Saudi Arabia's giant Ghawar, have pumped more than half their recoverable reserves after 50 years - the point at which production traditionally begins to decline. Demand for energy will grow faster in the Middle East over the next two decades than any region other than Asia, according to the International Energy Agency. "The outlook for the international energy industry in 2012 is clouded by uncertainty with ongoing concerns about economic growth, energy consumption and global financial stability, but not withstanding these issues, the U.A.E. continues to invest heavily in oil and gas production," Al-Hameli said at the 3rd UAE Energy Forum. The Gulf Intelligence Forum was held in the Cert Technology Park in Abu Dhabi with more than 100 industry professionals in attendance from companies including ADNOC, Maersk Oil, Shell, Occidental Oil '&' Gas and Total. - Emirates News Agency, WAM