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Abu Dhabi int'l oil company, Germany's Wintershall join forces for chemicals

Xinhua, November 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Germany's biggest crude oil and gas producer Wintershall agreed on Tuesday on their future cooperation in research and development.

At the ongoing Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on enhanced oil recovery using specialized chemicals for the oil and gas industry.

The main goal of ADNOC and Wintershall is to jointly develop customized solutions to meet the subsurface challenges that are characteristic for the local oil fields. Such characteristics are high temperature and high salinity in the carbonate reservoirs of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which harbours around seven percent of the world's known oil reserves.

Following successful lab results, a pilot test in Abu Dhabi will be envisaged. "With this chemically enhanced oil recovery (cEOR) research project, ADNOC and Wintershall work on advanced solutions for the subsurface challenges in Abu Dhabi," said Yasser Saeed Al-Mazrouei, the deputy director of exploration and production (E&P) of ADNOC.

He added that if both sides are successful, "we might be able to enhance the recovery of local oil fields. This may secure production and future energy supply in Abu Dhabi."

Wintershall, as 100 percent subsidiary of Germany's stock-listed chemical group BASF, is bringing its parents R&D capability in chemistry into the project. "Being chosen by ADNOC to cooperate in developing a new and efficient cEOR approach is a great honor for us," said Martin Bachmann, Wintershall board member responsible for E&P.

The MoU aims to contribute to Abu Dhabi's strategic target of reaching a 70 percent ultimate recovery from its oil fields in the future, said both sides.

The ADIPEC started on Monday and runs through Thursday. Endit