Why So Much Oil in the Middle East?
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VOL. 7, NO. 1 – 2010 GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED geoexpro.com Geotourism: The Cape Peninsula Middle East: Why So Much oil in the Middle East? Qatar: 70 Years of Oil History Seismic foldout: West of Shetland Recent Advances in Technology: Marine Seismic Sources GEOLOGY GEOPHYSICS RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT Next edition of GEO ExPro; March 2010: Kurdistan: Safe and Secure, with Billion Barrel Prospects Photo: Halfdan Carstens GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED columns 5 Editorial 8 ExPro Update 16 A Minute to Read 32 Recent Advances in Technology: Marine Seismic Sources 20 42 History of oil: Qatar Why so Much Oil in the Middle East 48 Geotourism In terms of oil reserves, the Middle East is second to none. This “oil miracle” 54 Energy Statistics: Provided by Rystad Energy of the world has been shaped by a set of favourable factors, some global 56 Geomedia: Edwin Drake and others local, inscribed in the geologic history of the region. Here we see 58 Global Exploration Update the oil museum in Muscat, Oman. 60 Q&A 62 Hot Spot 64 Global Resource Management: Iraq Illustration: TGS features 20 Why so Much Oil in the Middle East 28 The First Oil Discoveries in the 36 Middle East 36 SEISMIC FOLDOUT: GEOSCIENCE EXPLAINED: Seismic Fold-out IMPROVED SUB–BASALT IMAGING Newly reprocessed long offset seismic data from the Faroe Shetland Basin now provides a tool to enable interpreters to produce meaningful correlation in the sub-basalt section and raises some exciting geological questions for the West of Shetlands. 54 36 60 8 6 56 1 64 59 62 20 28 42 58 58 59 48 GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED iraq’s overwhelming problems www.geoexpro.com Roughly 60 percent of the world’s oil reserves and 41 percent of the world’s gas reserves belong to Middle Eastern countries. Some of that - actually, quite a bit - rests in the Iraqi subsurface. According to the BP Sta- GeoPublishing Ltd 15 Palace Place Mansion tistical Review of World Energy (2009), Iraq’s estimated oil reserves are now 115Bb, only surpassed by Saudi Kensington Court Arabia and Iran on a world-wide basis. Others present figures that are even higher. The result is the same. By London w8 5bb, u.k. making these barrels available to the world, as is now being done by Baghdad officials, production may soar +44 20 7937 2224 from 2.5MMbopd today to more than 10MMbopd in 2017. That, at least, is the ambitious government target. When Iraq was invaded in the spring of Managing Director Tore Karlsson 2003, many believed that the war “was merely a grab by Western com- Middle Middle East East Editor in Chief panies for Iraq’s vast oil reserves” Halfdan Carstens (TIME, December 7, 2009). If so, they have certainly succeeded in Contributing Editors their efforts. Following two Thomas Smith [email protected] licensing rounds last year, altogether ten Middle East oil and gas reserves Jane Whaley contract areas have compared to the rest of the world’s [email protected] been awarded. And, if reserves. Oil in green, gas in red. the companies succeed Rasoul Sorkhabi [email protected] in their efforts, production may eventually reach the official Paul Wood target, or even more. [email protected] In fact, the projected increase will boost global output and may eventually bring down oil Editorial enquiries prices. GeoPublishing 7491 Trondheim, Norway The bad news is that the war-torn country has lost most of its infrastructure. What was there when produc- +47 73 90 40 90 /+47 90 56 35 95 tion peaked at 3.7MMbopd in 1979 is now largely gone. Their almost insurmountable problems also include [email protected] brain drain, meaning that there will be a critical shortage of geologists, geophysicists, engineers and managers. www.geoexpro.com Unlike their neighbours Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran, experts need to be imported into the country in order to achieve the goals. Marketing Manager Kirsti Karlsson Thanks to Saddam Hussein’s behaviour, the timely invasion of Iraq seven years ago and the new govern- +44 79 0991 5513 ment’s need for technical and financial investments, the huge deposits of oil and gas in Iraq are now again [email protected] available to assist international oil companies to book new reserves. Subscription GeoPublishing Ltd +44 20 7937 2224 15 Palace Place Mansion Kensington Court London w8 5bb, u.k. [email protected] Halfdan Carstens Editor in Chief geo expro is pub lished bimonthly for a base subscrip tion rate of gbp 50.- a year (6 issues). We encourage readers to alert us to news for possible publica- VOL. 7, NO. 1 – 2010 THE MIDDLE EAST “OIL MIRACLE” tion and to submit articles for HNOLOGY EXPLAINED GEOSCIENCE & TEC The Middle East is unique when we look into why the Middle publication. geoexpro.com it comes to petroleum reserves. As East is flush with oil and gas. Geotourism: The Cape Peninsula shown in the graph above, roughly As explained in our Cover Story, Cover Illustration: Drilling for oil in the Middle East. 60% of the world’s oil reserves are it has to do with both regional Photo: Halfdan Carstens Middle East: found beneath vast, inhospitable and global factors, meaning that Why So Much oil Geotourism photo: in the Middle East? deserts with little else to offer. the long story begins in the late Jane Whaley Qatar: Sheep feeding on almost barren Precambrian. And, as every pe- 70 Years of Oil History Seismic foldout: rocks is nevertheless a familiar troleum geologist knows, it has West of Shetland Layout: Skipnes Kommunikasjon Recent Advances in Technology: sight in some areas. In this par- to do with source rocks, reservoir Marine Seismic Sources Print: NXT Oslo Reklamebyrå R E S E R V O I R M A N A G E M E N T ticular case, in Syria, they have rocks and cap rocks. In addition, G E O P H Y S I C S G E O L O G Y found a sweet-spot close to a rig a favourable time relationship issn 1744-8743 drilling for oil. between migration and trap for- In this edition of GEO ExPro mation is needed. geo expro february 2010 5 Jane Whaley ExPro Update Life in the UKCS yet? ABBREVIATIONS Numbers Drilling activity on the UKCS the 26th UKCS Seaward Westward LLP gave an inter- (U.S. and scientific community) fell dramatically in 2009. Well Licence Round, expected early esting overview of the oppor- M: thousand = 1 x 103 numbers were on a par with in 2010. tunities available in the UKCS, 6 2005 - and only 7% were ex- As Simon Toole from DECC emphasising the fact that more MM: million = 1 x 10 9 ploration wells – but the mood said in his opening address, there than 500 prospects with an B: billion = 1 x 10 at the seventh Prospect Fair, is still an estimated 20 Bbo in average size of 44 MMboe have T: trillion = 1 x 1012 PROSPEX, in December 2009 the UKCS waiting to be found. already been identified but not was distinctly one of cautious Although some of the smaller developed in the area. Extrapo- optimism. players appeared to be suffer- lating from previous rounds, Liquids PROSPEX, sponsored jointly ing as a result of the economic he anticipates that this new barrel = bbl = 159 litre by the PESGB and DECC, was downturn, he pointed out that round should attract about 20 boe: barrels of oil equivalent held in the Business Design more than 400 MMboe per year well commitments and see the bopd: barrels (bbls) of oil per day Centre in London, and attracted were discovered between 2007 awarding of about 250 blocks. bcpd: bbls of condensate per day more than 700 delegates, 73 ex- and 2009, with the Promote Ini- Delegates at the conference hibitors and 24 talks. It showed tiative alone leading to 18 pub- commented on the generally bwpd: bbls of water per day that, despite the economic lished successes. He said that the buoyant and optimistic mood. climate, there is still plenty of 26th Licence Round may intro- One exhibitor even complained Gas interest in North West Europe duce a new nine year West of that the first day was too MMscfg: million ft3 gas and the UKCS in particular. The Shetland frontier licence, as well crowded! Signs that the industry 3 year actually saw an increase in as fresh acreage in the underex- has not yet finished with the MMscmg: million m gas exploration activity in the chal- plored Western Approaches and UKCS yet, perhaps? Tcfg: trillion cubic feet of gas lenging areas West of Shetland, English Channel. and there was much talk about Chris Bulley from Hannon Ma: Million years ago LNG Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is natural gas (primarily methane) cooled to a temperature of approximately -260 oC. NGL Natural gas liquids (NGL) include propane, butane, pentane, hexane and heptane, but not methane and ethane. Photo: kmphotos.com/PESGB Reserves and resources P1 reserves: Quantity of hydrocarbons believed recoverable with a 90% probability P2 reserves: Quantity of hydrocarbons believed recoverable with a 50% probability P3 reserves: Quantity of hydrocarbons believed recoverable with a 10% probability PROSPEX, held in London in December 2009, has developed into a major event for those active in the North Sea. Oilfield glossary: www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com 6 geo expro february 2010 Technology Update Jane Whaley Geologging on the Forties Field Aberdeen based HRH Geological Services has spent many years helping companies find the right tech- nology to unlock the potential of their fields by turning geological data into more useful digital formats which can be integrated into the workflow.