KEPCO Invests in 3 Key Projects
Ramin Khodafarin, director of research and technology at Khazar Exploration and Production Company (KEPCO), has announced the signature of the company's first research agreement within the framework of Iran's 6th Five-year Economic Development Plan.
He said: "Within the framework of the 6th Five-year Plan, new projects were envisaged in offshore engineering and exploration. These projects have been instructed for implementation after winning approval at the Research Council and the Board of Directors of National Iranian Oil Company."
Khodafarin said NIOC-approved research projects included modeling of sedimentary pools, demarcation of deltas and expanding the reservoir rock in the southern part of the Caspian Sea based on existing offshore well data, and identifying geological hazards and possible hydrocarbon zones through geophysical methods and geological and reservoir data in the Caspian Sea.
Project Developer Selection
Khodafarin touched on the latest status of the projects, saying: "These three projects are currently in the final stage of selecting developer."
Outlining the projects, he said: "The objectives envisaged for the sedimentary pool modeling in the southern part of the Caspian Sea involves determining the category of sediments by using new methods, determining the properties of reservoir rock, determining the 3D distribution and expansion of sandstones and reservoir potential within the framework of underground maps, presenting a construction model for the sedimentary pool, and formulating the sedimentary model of the sedimentary pool (drafting paleogeographic maps). The period envisaged for accomplishing the projects is about 18 months."
Regarding the mechanism of formation of mud domes, he said mud domes and other petroleum seeps will undergo geological studies in Golestan Province. Furthermore, a comprehensive databank of mud domes and petroleum seeps will be drawn up while active mud domes in the region will be identified. In the meantime, samples will be taken from mud domes based on the time intervals of their activity. As far as possible, the mud domes of neighboring countries will be also identified and the causes of formation of mud domes and their impacts on the region's tectonic activity will be studied. This project is envisaged to be implemented in a 24-month period.
Projects under 5-Year Plan
The main idea behind the implementation of geological hazard identification project is to identify drilling and production hazards in the Caspian Sea's deep waters. These hazards include identification and studying the mechanism of 3D formation and extraction of high-pressure sand under seabed in the Caspian Sea, studying the possibility of formation of hydrated gas in the Caspian Sea, 3D identification and extraction of hydrated gas zones and other drilling hazards including mud domes, fault lines and studying their mechanism of formation and date of formation, as well as their mutual impacts with geological properties of the southern Caspian Sea. This project is envisioned for about 18 months.
Khodafarin said NIOC Directorate of Research had defined the projects under the five-year development plan by reconsidering its routine approach.
He added that the process of endorsement and notification of the projects lasted about nine months. He said, of a total of 10 projects sent to the Research Council of NIOC, three were endorsed for implementation.
He said the three projects would become operational in the first step with a budget of about IRR 70 billion.
Khodafarin said: "Given the negotiations held with the NIOC Directorate of Research, it was decided that the two projects of modeling the Caspian Sea sedimentary pool and identifying geological hazards start this calendar year and the remaining projects would start in the following calendar year."
Referring to the results obtained from KEPCO research projects in the previous years, he expressed hope that the results of projects would become effectively positive under the 6th Five-year Plan.
Khodafarin said until the late 2000s KEPCO research projects were mainly conducted by student.
He added that NIOC Directorate of Research and Technology had moved towards research projects in offshore engineering.