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Page added on December 16, 2014
Depletion of Kirkuk oil feared
Kirkuk University experts expressed fears of the depletion of the northern oil and the dangers of reducing oil prices.
During a scientific conference held at the University, experts urged for studies that will calculate the storage of Kirkuk oil wells and the produced quantities.
On 30 November, 2014, Premier Haidar al-Ibadi stated that experts warned the government of the dangers of stopping oil production from Kirkuk wells for six months, because the oil will plunge down into the ground layers.
6 Comments on "Depletion of Kirkuk oil feared"
rockman on Tue, 16th Dec 2014 7:58 am
I couldn’t find any details on exactly what those university experts are concerned about. But here are some details on the field:
Kirkuk Field is an oilfield near Kirkuk, Iraq. The oilfield was brought into production in 1934. It has ever since remained the most important part of northern Iraqi oil production with over 10 billion barrels of proven remaining oil reserves in 1998. After about seven decades of operation, Kirkuk still produces up to 1 million barrels per day, almost half of all Iraqi oil exports. Oil from the Kirkuk oilfield is now exported through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline, which runs to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.
Some analysts believe that poor reservoir-management practices during the Saddam Hussein years may have seriously, and even permanently, damaged Kirkuk’s oilfield. One example showed an estimated 1.5 billion barrels of excess fuel oil being reinjected. Other problems include refinery residue and gas-stripped oil. Fuel oil reinjection has increased oil viscosity at Kirkuk making it more difficult and expensive to get the oil out of the ground.
On 11 July 2014 Kurdistan Regional Government forces seized control of the Kirkuk oilfield, together with the Bai Hassan field, prompting a condemnation from Baghdad and a threat of “dire consequences,” if the oilfields were not returned to Iraq’s control.
OFT on Tue, 16th Dec 2014 8:51 am
Rockman – I suspect some of this confusion is in the translation and the possible confusion of two potential actions in the face of low oil prices: namely, (a) shutting in the well, or (b) re-injection of surplus production.
I studied this field in another life and yes – during earlier phases of its history, there were times when surplus oil was re-injected into some wells as short term surface storage options elsewhere were filled, became dilapidated, or where overwhelmed. It is v hard to simulate reservoir modelling when there is no ‘re-inject oil’ button option in your software. Also, quite understandably, there has not ben a lot of research into reservoir management in the cases of re-injection of HC. Best avoided, if possible!
bobinget on Tue, 16th Dec 2014 9:16 am
Thank you OFT, post again!
Northwest Resident on Tue, 16th Dec 2014 9:43 am
(Fill in the blank) feel but have not yet publicly expressed fears of the depletion of the (fill in name of legacy oil field) and the dangers of reducing oil prices.
Trite, but true. They are ALL scared to death as their legacy fields are nearly all on the downward slope of their production lifespan, many of them needing continuous and significant investment in technology to squeeze out what little oil is left. And with the price of oil crashing, the difficulty in paying for that technology to keep the oil coming presents a very dangerous situation. The Kirkuk university dudes may be the only ones publicly talking about it, for now, but they aren’t the only ones feeling that fear.
bobinget on Tue, 16th Dec 2014 9:49 am
One point overlooked. This single 81 year old MB p/d field will still be putting out when tight oil ops
get renamed ‘stripper wells.
The US, indeed the world, has become codependent on the few ‘elephants’ remaining.
The US has no ‘plan’ other then to secure Kirkuk like oil fields. The US, UK, FR, GR will develop an exit plan when major ME fields stop ‘putting out’.
OFT on Wed, 17th Dec 2014 5:16 am
Kirkuk is indeed a very old field by any standard, but it still has a lot of life left in it. In its favour is its location and the fact that the main reservoir is fairly shallow (less than 1000m in places).
A true beauty of a super-giant; current reports state that it had original oil in place (OOIP) of about 38 billion barrels, but with a current recovery factor estimated at 60%, it has somewhere around 8 billion barrels left to produce.
Yes it has complexities (primary vs secondary porosity/permeability considerations), and has had poor production management at times. But it will be the subject for a lot of study and enhanced recovery techniques in years to come. As Mark Twain said “The report of my death was an exaggeration”.
You can download the current copy of the GeoExpro magazine here as a PDF. It includes a 4 page overview of Kirkuk.
http://www.geoexpro.com/magazine/vol-11-no-6