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Heavy Oil World Edición Latino América

Alternativas Tecnológicas para el Manejo de Crudos Pesados Presente y Futuro de la Industria Petrolera Mundial Métodos de Producción de Crudos Pesados mediante Recuperacion Térmica Lo que nos trae el Congreso Mundial de Crudos Pesados Lo último en tecnologías de Perforación y Completación (SAGD) Ensayos, artículos técnicos, noticias y mucho más!

Primera Edición para Latino América

Heavy Oil World

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Edición Latino América

Principal Alternativas Tecnológicas para el Manejo de Crudos Pesados

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Tendencias Presente y Futuro de la Industria Petrolera Mundial

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Entrevista Lo último en tecnologías de Perforación y Completación (SAGD)

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Eventos Lo que nos trae el Congreso Mundial de Crudos Pesados

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Tecnología Métodos de Producción de Crudos Pesados mediante Recuperacion Térmica

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Heavy Oil World

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Edición Latino América

Presidente y Editor: Fernando Javier González Soto Oro Negro Publishing, Inc. Director Ejecutivo: Maria Auxiliadora Camacaro Contribuidores: Pedro J. Diaz G., César D. González y Leamsi Sangronis Publicidad y Mercadeo: Soraya González Soto Ventas y Circulación: Yohanna Montero Producción: Beatriz Urdaneta Dirección: Via Italia, PH Las Hadas, p. 9, Nr. 9-A Corregimiento San Francisco, Punta Paitilla Ciudad de Panamá, República de Panamá Telf.: (507) 215-0218

Understanding

Heavy Oil

Heavy oil is not new. Man’s relationship with bitumen extraction stretches back thousands of years.

Commercially, oil and gas companies around the world have been extracting and producing heavy crudes for over 100 years. Today, rising frontier exploration risks, access to resources challenges, lower gas costs, and low pricing differentials are helping to make heavy oil recovery regions increasingly attractive to producers.

Generally, there is no exploration phase for heavy oil projects in the conventional sense. The main challenge in heavy oil is not in finding resources, but in the ability for an oil company to extract, recover, produce, and sell heavy crudes within (often changing) economic guidelines and with minimal environmental impact.

Recovery Methods Heavy oil recovery methods include primary production, thermal production, and cold enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The selection of any of these methods will depend on many factors, including the stage of reservoir production, formation and fluid properties, reservoir geology, available production and transportation facilities, and the underlying heavy oil economics in a particular region.

Preliminary Evaluation Heavy oil recovery is unlike conventional oil. Generally, heavy oil targets are known with depths identified and a general idea of the API gravity. So the key question is: Which target within a field do you tackle first?

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Field Development Plan Field development from subsurface model to first oil and beyond Holistic project planning practices can maximize a project’s value through its entire lifecycle, from appraisal through to operations and eventual disposal.

Reservoir, Production, and Facilities Design Heavy oil extraction presents a number of challenges, so testing, evaluation, and planning are all essential when making decisions about operating and surface facilities.

Downstream Plan Heavy oil projects cannot easily be separated into upstream, midstream and downstream. Each element is interlinked more so than in any other form of extraction.

Plan Evaluation Long-term viability in heavy oil projects is the fundamental aspect to any proposed development, so it is important to conduct a full technical and commercial viability review of the design using inputs from the ongoing pilot.

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HEAVY OIL WORLD NEWS Prices in Petrochemicals Market Drops Monday June 11, 2012, 9:09pm PDT Platts reported that prices in the petrochemicals market worldwide dropped in May. Canadian Heavy Crude Discounts Sold for $25 Under WTI Thursday June 7, 2012, 8:19pm PDT Reuters reports that Canadian heavy crude discounts sold for $25 under WTI after Enbridge Inc (TSX:ENB) closed its 609,000 barrel-a-day Line 6A pipeline.

Western Canada Select Oil’s Discount Widened $1 Wednesday June 6, 2012, 9:08pm PDT Bloomberg reported that Western Canada Select oil’s discount widened $1 to $25 a barrel as Enbridge Inc. closed its 608,800-barrel-a-day 6A crude pipeline.

Israel backs clean-energy goals with policy, laws and R&D By: Eleanor Seggie 13th May 2011

Israel aims to reduce coal- generated power to about 40%, increase the use of natural gas to 40%, and have 20% of power generated by renewable sources by 2020, says Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor director-general Sharon Kedmi.

The country also aims to use energy efficiency to reduce carbon emissions by 20%, a goal announced in 2009 by Israeli President Shimon Peres at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Currently, almost 60% of electricity generation is derived from coal-fired plants, about 30% from natural gas and the balance from heavy oil or diesel. Renewable energy currently contributes less than 1%.

Israel has made a concerted move to natural gas-fired power plants in place of coal and using natural gas across the board, targeting significant users, such as power generation and heavy industry. In industry, the aim is to introduce natural gas to factories that use diesel, heavy oil and other pollutants. Industry is offered significant grants when converting to natural gas, receiving grants of between 20% and 25% of the capital expenditure used for this changeover.

Renewable Strategy Israel has, thus, adopted a three-pronged green strategy, comprising environmental policy, new green engines of growth and international cooperation, says Kedmi.

The Israeli government, led by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, has implemented new environmental legislation and policy in support of its renewable- energy drive.

Israel’s Clean Air Law is intended to reduce airborne pollution by mandating that industry be proactive in reducing its emissions, while its Packing Law will encourage recycling and reduce solid waste. The latter mandates that large wholesalers recycle packaging and recyclable materials, such as plastic, cans and nylon.

The country has also committed to creating a domestic chemicals registration system as a condition for membership with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, by 2013.

Further, its Interministerial Committee for Reducing Green-house Gas Emissions will, in the near future, submit its recommendations to be put forward as legislation. The committee is a collaboration between the Prime Minister’s office and the Ministries of Environmental Protection, Industry, Trade and Labor, National Infrastructures, and Transportation.

It has implemented policies to reduce carbon emissions, such as the ‘Green Tax’ on cars, imple- mented a year ago. ‘Dirty’ cars, or high polluters, however, carry heavy penalties, says Kedmi.

NewTech Israel NewTech was established in 2006 under leadership of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, with participation of ten government Ministries and official organisations. The government programme focuses on developing water and energy technologies and provides an infrastructure that encourages technology development in the sector.

Israel back clean-energy goals... (continued from previous page) It centres on strengthening human capital to promote research and development (R&D) programmes, increase international awareness of Israel’s water and renewable-energy sectors and, thereby, increase Israeli exports and attract international investment.

R&D activities are encouraged through the establishment of a renewable-energy R&D centre in the Negev, and research grants for renewable-energy projects with potential for commercial applications, besides other initiatives. The local market is stimulated by government subsidies, invest- ment in start-up, innovative renewable-energy companies and enforcing aggressive feed-in tariffs. Further, international investment is achieved by penetrating world markets.

Solar Energy The Israeli Public Utility Auth- ority and the National Infrastruc- tures Ministry have established feed-in tariffs for the development of solar and wind power technology, encouraging significant investment and innovation in these fields. Its aggressive feed-in tariff for solar systems aims to achieve 850 MW (5%) by 2014 and about 3 500 MW (10%) by 2010.

The Ministry reports that the driving forces for the development of solar energy technologies in Israel stem from its geographic conditions, with an abundance of sunny days and a sun-ray regime of almost 2 000 hours yearly, a 50% arid zone and a lack of oil resources, its comprehensive R&D environment with a strong synergy between academia and industry and a range of academic institutions and R&D centres, as well as over 100 companies with renewable-energy solutions.

Over 85% of residential buildings in Israel use solar collectors, representing 4% of the country’s energy demands, and the country is the world leader in this technology.

Kedmi says that Israel seeks to cooperate with other countries and to share its success in dealing with challenging environmental conditions, and is eager to create knowledge-sharing platforms with African countries.

He believes the South African government needs to introduce an aggressive feed-in tariff for solar panels.

Three years ago, Israel introduced an aggressive feed-in tax, about â‚Ź0,45c/kWh, as a pre- mium the government pays to open the market and encourage investors, he explains. This premium is now being reduced.

Eleanor Seggie is Sub-editor at Moneyweb. In the past, she was Editor at Supply Chain Today; Deputy Editor SA Mechnical Engineer: Power Generation at Promech Publishing, Staff (News) Writer at Creamer Media, Features Writer at Creamer Media