A Possible Application Carbon Dioxide-Enhance...

A Possible Application Carbon Dioxide-Enhanced Oil Recovery in Sarir Oil Fields Sirte Basin - Libya

Author Name : Alfageh Z. A.

ABSTRACT

The Sarir Oil field at Sirte Basin is a complex of three fields (Sarir "C", North Pool and Sarir "L" ) as the largest oil field in Libya was discovered by British Petroleum (BP) in November 1961 on a seismically defined structure. Oil Produced at Sarir is very waxy, with average 37.2˚API, paraffin base, sulfur-free oil, and is pumped through a 400km pipeline to the Mersa El Hariga terminal. Original Oil in Place (OOIP) is estimated to be 12 billion barrels of oil.

The fluctuation in oil prices, the threatening of economic collapse, and declining Sarir oilfield productivity all highlights the need for improved and accelerated recovery. Most of the studies and reviews show that the amount of oil that can be extracted with primary drive mechanisms is about 20 % and by secondary recovery can reach up to 18% but using modern Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) techniques, recovery can reach up to 17%. These techniques of EOR are essentially designed to recover oil commonly described as residual oil. The Sarir fields have been providing a large part of the crude oil, about 40% of oil have already been produced. Therefore 60% of the original oil remains stranded in place and a considerable portion of it can be recovered using advanced CO₂-EOR  recovery techniques according to oil properties and the reservoir characteristics of the Sarir oil fields.

Keywords: Carbon Dioxide "CO₂-EOR",  Economic collapse, Libya, Sarir oil fields,Sirte basin.