Maximize Recovery

In order to increase the hydrocarbon recovery factor it is necessary to improve the knowledge of oil fields and to use advanced technologies to drill wells and to produce hydrocarbons.
Survey campaigns based on geophysical techniques along with accurate mapping of the geological model and of hydrocarbon flows allow to describe the subsurface in terms of rock composition, of its permeability, of chemical-physical characteristics of the hydrocarbons and of the field production potential since the beginning of its life.
It becomes fundamental to exploit the most advanced drilling and development techniques, as well as recovery processes, whether those of Improved Oil Recovery (injecting water or gas to maintain the original pressure level inside the reservoir) or Enhanced Oil Recovery (injecting steam, polymer solutions, natural gas or carbon dioxide), and also to adopt “intelligent systems‘ (smart fields) for the real-time optimization of production activities.

Eni has launched research activities on CO₂ Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) for increasing heavy crude oil recovery factor in fields where the company operates. In this integrated solution, CO₂ could be recovered from industrial plants located near the fields. Such a project could be of great strategic value for the capture, transportation and the EOR/storage of CO₂.
In the best case scenario, preliminary estimates suggest that the quantities of recoverable crude oil would practically double.

Heavy crude oils are among the most difficult resources to extract and to develop. Their extraction requires large energy supplies to the fields (e.g. in the form of steam injection). Conventional extraction techniques are unsuitable for the exploitation of these fields, especially when they are located in deep waters.
Eni is studying a particular steam injection technique to exploit a heavy crude oil field located in the Congo offshore. The specific technology has never been employed in deep water environments. The feasibility assessment in progress on this application has already produced encouraging results.

This technology is based on an additive that is injected in the ground and selectively blocks the rock parts where water is present, thus potentially increasing the extraction of crude. A field test has been started with results scheduled for 2011.