KAZAKHSTAN UPSTREAM OIL AND GAS technology and R&d ...

Challenges
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Fundamental to the project
Identifying the common challenges facing the
upstream oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan
has been a fundamental element of the
roadmapping project. Indeed, the early
stages of the work focused almost entirely on
this issue. Vital to building our understanding
were, first, a series of detailed presentations
from the IOCs and KMG explaining
the difficulties that surround exploration
and production in Kazakhstan’s main oil
provinces. Following these presentations,
workshops were held to analyse the reported
difficulties and ultimately convert then into a
set of agreed challenges. The findings of this
early work are covered in Report B, Outline
of the Technology Challenges. This report
was extensively reviewed by experts from
across the industry and subsequently redrafted
immediately prior to the June 2012 roadmap
technical workshop.
The roadmapping project identified 15 prime
technology challenges facing the upstream
oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan. These fall
into one of five categories, or technical target
areas (TTAs), that span the entire upsteam
industry from the initial exploration for oil and
gas, through field development (reservoir and
facilities) to production operations.
1 Reservoir characterisation
1.1 Seismic data acquisition and processing
1.2 Reservoir description – geology, rock and fluid interpretation
1.3 Well logging and in-well monitoring
1.4 Core analysis and data interpretation
1.5 Fluid property analysis
2 Field equipment
2.1 Corrosion plus equipment and materials for sour service
2.2 Operating in the ice and during cold weather
2.3 Management of sulphur
3 Fluid flow and processing
3.1 Flow assurance and sand control
3.2 Water management
4 Wells and field management
4.1 Drilling and well costs
4.2 Field management: optimised recovery including IOR/EOR
5 HSE and operations
5.1 Emergency response and disaster recovery
5.2 Operational HSE risk reduction under sour production conditions
5.3 Environmental impact
Kazakhstan Upstream oil and gas technology and R&D roadmap