Activity Survey 2014

ACTIVITY SURVEY 2014

Maximising Recovery

Over the last decade, the total reported recoverable reserves, considering the full range of probabilities, has consistently remained at around 11 billion boe, with 2014 being no exception at 10.7 billion boe. However, only 60 per cent of these reserves in 2014 are sanctioned, compared with 80 per cent in 2006. This trend, with a much smaller sanctioned base, means that investment in UKCS developments is increasingly exposed to cost, production and price risks.

Figure 3: The Evolving Reserve Base of the UK Continental Shelf

14

12

Possible

10

8

Probable

6

4

Reserves (Billion boe)

Sanctioned

2

0

Source: Oil & Gas UK

Maximising recovery from the UKCS requires the industry to take a three-pronged approach, as follows:

i. Continue to increase recovery from existing fields, using increased and enhanced oil and gas recovery techniques ii. Find new means to commercialise existing discoveries which are as yet undeveloped typically for technical or cost reasons iii. Increase exploration to replace the barrels that have been produced With the difficulties in maturing new discoveries, it is all the more important to increase the recovery rate of existing fields, which is typically running at around 46 per cent on oil fields across the UKCS. Current estimates are that EOR technologies have the potential to add up to six billion barrels, taking a best case scenario. However, even with more conservative assumptions, effective implementation of EOR could readily add an additional 0.5 to 1 billion boe to recoverable reserves in the near term.

page 10