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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
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Figure 15: Primary Resource Theme of Undeveloped Reserves
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Conventional Shelf
Deepwater
Heavy Oil
High-Pressure
High-Temperature
Undeveloped Reserves (Billion boe)
Primary Resource Theme
Source: Wood Mackenzie
The Technology Leadership Board (TLB), made up of industry, academia and government agency expertise, is
seeking to unlock as much of this potential as possible. The TLB was set up in late 2014 to advance technological
development to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and maximise UKCS competitiveness and economic recovery.
It now feeds into the industry and OGA’s joint MER UK (Maximising Economic Recovery from the UKCS) Forum
and aims to ensure technology development is collaborative, focused on priority areas and suitable for multi-field
application. The four key areas identified are well construction, small pools development, asset integrity and
decommissioning
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.
The small pools theme, for example, has already made tangible progress by mapping these discoveries. The OGA
has identified over 350 unsanctioned discoveries of less than 50 million boe in size, containing total resources of
over 3.4 billion boe (technically recoverable). These are currently not pursued by the licence holders. Preliminary
economic modelling by the TLB Small Pools work group
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shows that if development costs could be reduced by
50 per cent, for instance through better engineering concepts, novel technologies, and improved operational and
commercial arrangements, this could unlock over 1.5 billion boe of the above resources. Other work targeting
reductions in drilling costs and asset integrity will also help these project developments, further increasing the
likelihood of these reserves being extracted.
The TLB is among the bodies supporting the new Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC), announced earlier this
year and underpinned by funding from the UK and Scottish Governments through the Aberdeen City Region Deal.
The OGTC’s priority is to establish Solution Centres that bring together knowledge and expertise from across
industry and deliver practical solutions.
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Find out more about the progress of the MER UK Technology Leadership Board at
http://cld.bz/qvj13au/2818
Participating organisations: Centrica, EnQuest, National Subsea Research Initiative, Oil & Gas UK, OGA.