National oil companies (NOCs) in the Middle East plan to boost their collaboration efforts in technology applications through a global industry trade organization’s initiative.
For the first time, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members of the Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF) held a summit in Abu Dhabi. They agreed to take forward three technology challenges with the aim of defining a call for proposals for collaborative joint industry projects (JIPs) later this year. The summit was attended by representatives from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Kuwait Oil Company, and Petroleum Development Oman, three of the six GCC members.
Attendees identified three common challenges: mature fields, hybrid enhanced oil recovery, and fluid front/injection water monitoring and management. They will now work with ITF’s subsurface team to define initial problem statements related to the challenges. Then they will ask technology developers to propose solutions and JIPs.
“Our GCC members are showing significant appetite for developing new technologies. ITF has done a great deal of work with our Middle East members in building trust and promoting and spearheading collaborative activity in the region,” said Patrick O’Brien, chief executive officer of ITF. “Member companies in the region are now collectively sharing ideas for the first time and we hope to launch a call for proposals, based on these common themes later in the year.”
Last year, Qatar Petroleum and PDO in partnership with ProSep, a water treatment specialist, launched an ITF JIP to develop an offshore unit for oil-in-water removal and media regeneration using ProSep’s Osorb Media produced water treatment technology.
Started in December 2014, the 12-month project will culminate with the integration of a commercial unit into the target process stream for extended trials.