Formation of Oil and Natural Gas in Iraq - Case Study Example

Oil and Natural Gas Name Course Name and Code Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Formation of oil and natural gas 3 Extracting oil and natural gases 4 Seismic interpretation 6 Petrophysical analysis 7 Yamama Formation 7 Zubair formation 8 Mishrif Formation 9 Oil terminals 9 Refining 9 Natural Gas 11 Transportation 12 References 13 Introduction The fundamental objective of this research paper is to explain formation of oil and natural gas, extraction as well as transportation of oil in Iraq. The paper has achieved its objective by considering literature from various sources which talk about oil in Iraq. The paper has also considered a number of aspects involved in the oil and natural gas sector, for instance, refining, oil deposit locations, oil extraction methods, seismic interprentation, oil terminals and petrophysical analysis. Additionally, the paper has discussed a number of oil formations in Iraq, for instance, Yamama formation, Mishrif Formation, Zubair Formation. Formation of oil and natural gas Just like any other fossil fuel, oil is formed from remains of animals and plants that died many years ago. As time passes the animal and plant remains are buried deep in the underground below rock layers as well as under the oceans and seas. Upon being subjected to heat as well as pressure the animal and plant carbon changes into hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbon is the major component of crude oil. Hydrocarbons also form natural gas and it develops in the same place as crude oil. The process of formation of oil and gas takes about 350 million years (Rae, 2009, p. 8). For scientists to be able to find oil in the underground a number of things have to be considered. First of all the scientists ought to study the rock samples from the particular place that is suspected to have oil. Scientists can easily tell from studying the composition of the rock whether there is likely to be oil where the rock sample has been removed. The relative quality of oil largely determined by its components (Jarlett, 2013). When a site that is promising has been discovered, there should be drilling of the well. After drilling of the well, a pump is put over the well. The pump moves freely up and down so that it can be able to extract oil from the well. In some cases, the oil can be too thick in that it cannot flow easily. In such a case another well ought to drill and steam is forced on the second well hence pushing oil up in the first well. In some cases, oil can be located but the oil may not be extraction process may not be economically viable since the oil deposit may be too small to warrant its extraction (Rodrigue, Comtois & Slack, 2009, p.267). In such cases, the landscape of the place can be seriously damaged. However, if enough oil is found, several pumps can be put in the particular place. Therefore, the land should be cleared to pave way for the oil filed and in such a case biodiversity existing on the particular site is lost. Extracting oil and natural gases According to API (2008), extraction of oil and natural gas is not as easy as drilling a well. Initially, it was a common practice to get about 10 percent of oil available in a reservoir and the 90 percent would be left underground since there was little technology to aid in extraction of all the oil and natural gas available. Nonetheless, presently there is advanced technology that tolerates generation of approximately 60% of available oil in an oil well. Primary recovery method relies on the pressure that is underground to drive fluids from the underground to the ground surface. When the pressure drops, artificial lift techniques, for instance, pumps are used to help drive more fluids to the ground surface. In some cases, natural gas can be directed to the well below oil. The gas increases in volume, therefore moving the oil to the ground surface. Gas life technology is used on offshore facilities. Often, primary recovery traps a meagre 10 percent of oil available in an oil deposit. Secondary recovery, this is an enhanced recovery method and it is widely used technique. Water that is generated as well as separated from the oil during the initial stage for drilling is directed to the oil deposit so that it can direct a lot of oil to the ground surface. Not only does this technique boost oil recovery but also disposes of wastewater therefore putting it back to the place that it came from. This method can add about 20% of oil to the ground surface. Enhanced recovery method is used to get the oil that is remaining in the oil deposit. Enhanced recovery has three approaches: chemical flooding, gas injection as well as thermal recovery (Sino Australia Oil and Gas Pty Ltd, 2013, p.1). The thermal recovery method involves injecting steam into the oil deposit. The heat released from steam enhances movement of the oil and the resulting increased pressure moves it to the ground surface. In gas injection it uses immiscible or miscible gasses (Alvarado & Manrique, 2010, 151). The gases dissolve propane, CO2 methane as well as other gases in oil so that it can reduce its viscosity as well increases its flow. Immiscible gases do not mix with oil however it increases pressure in ‘gas cap” in the reservoir so that it can drive more oil to the oil well to the bore. Lastly, the chemical flooding entails mixing dense and polymers that dissolve in water with water as well as injecting the mixture in the field. Water pushes oil from the formation so that it can move to the oil well bore. The enhanced recovery method is used to get about 60 percent of the oil to the ground surface (Isco, 2012, p.1). Diagram showing how oil is extracted Seismic interpretation In Iraq there are five lead blocks that are identified in block 1. Upper Creraceous Shiranish and several potential Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic Kurra Chine as well as Ordovician Khabour levels (Mazeel, 2012, p. 49). There are six lead that have been identified in block 2, in the Triassic Kura Chine as well as Jeribe-Euphrates level, nonetheless in larger structures there is a chance of closure in the Cretaceous part. Block 9 is found in south eastern Iraq which is next to Iran. There are two seismic surveys that have been done over the Block in 1978 and 1973 by the Petrobras. Dynamite helped in the acquisition of data and is 6 and 12 fold. The quality of data is fair. Block 9 does not have any wells. The Nahr Umr Filed is 5 kilometres in the west of the Block and it has seismic data. There is also Sindabad Filed that is 1 kilometer south of Sindabad Field and has seismic data. The Majnoon, Zubair and Siba are located closely and are on trend with the Block (Mazeel, 2012, p. 51). There are three Leads that have been identified. There is likelihood of high number of reservoir that contain hydrocarbon since the structure is expressed in the overlying horizons. The Majnoon Field has twelve reserves that have oil. Three lead are at the Upper Zbair level that had oil in Luhais-1 well. Blocks 12,11 and 6 are situated in south-west of Iraq. Nine leads have been identified in Block 6 in three stratigraphic. There were leads in all potential reservoir levels as well as various types of traps. There are three lead that have been identified at the Upper Zubair level that had oil in the Luhais-1 well. The three structures are subtle and do not depict closure on the maps. Consequently, regions of potential closure can be identified on maps and they are identified as leads /1,8,9,10,11,12,13,14/. (Mazeel, 2012, p. 51). Petrophysical analysis According to Tordo (2011, p.17) In Iraq a majority of the wells were drilled in 1960s or 1970s. The drilled wells have antediluvian log consecution that consists of resistivity and SP log. The main issue in most of the wells is determining a good porosity, mud resistivity, water salinity as well as formation mud resistivity. Porosity determination is possible in six exploration wells and water salinity is also available in three wells. Abstraction of mud eliminates determination of Rw. Therefore water saturations determined are estimates /1, 9/ Mazeel (2012, p. 51). Yamama Formation The Yamama formation in Australia has hydrocarbons at 26 structures in South Iraq that includes the West Qurna, Majnoon fields as well as North Rumaila. The Yamama Formation is mainly composed of shallow water carbonates. Reservoir limestone was deposited in ooltitc shoals as shallow marine, low energy as well as ramp facies in central Iraq. The Yamama reservoir is about 240m. This reservoir has the best quality in central in Iraq. On the other hand, its quality is poor in eastern Iraq. Its porosities are between 6 to 12% and permeability vary from tens to hundreds milidarcies. Permeability is determined by inter-granular macro porosity as well as inters-granular to pallid matrix micro porosity with local secondary permeability. This type of micro porosity systems have high water saturations if water-wet or bitumen-plugged if is oil wet. In Rumaila, West Qurna structure, reserve potential of Yamama formation increases from the South to North. Zubair formation According to Plint (2009, p.345) the Zubair formation has important sandstone reservoir that is situated in southern Iraq. The Zubair formation comprises of 30% hydrocarbon reserves in Iraq. It has oil in 30 structures such as South and North Rumaila and Zubair and east Baghdad central Iraq. The Zubair formation comprises of secondary reservoir at Tuba, Ratawi and Luhais and has reserves at Halfaiya, Majnoon as well as Huwaiza. Mileh Tharthar-1, Balad fields and East Baghadad that lie within sandstones facies. Zubair Formation sandstones was deposited in a pro delta/ delta to inner shelf environment and has interbedded sandstone as well as shale 300-400m thick Mazeel (2012, p. 55). The Formation moves into north westwards into shale of the Balambo Formation. The amount of sand increases towards the Southwest, where proximal facies are formed. The Zubair formation is thick in Southern Iraq. The reserve potential is great at the southern section of Central Iraq that has coarse grained and shallow marine clastics are formed. The Zubair formation has net to gross of about zero at the Iranian border. There is a thickness of more than 200m of sandstone that is evident in Zubair formation and the Karbala in central Iraq. Similarly, porosities increases from about 15% near the Iran border to about 30% in wells in Salman zone, for instance, Kifl-1 Mazeel (2012, p. 55). Mishrif Formation This formation is an important reservoir in south eastern Iraq and has 32 oil structures. The largest accumulation in Mishrif formation are in Rumaila South, Rumaila, Zubair, West Qurna, Halfaiya and Majnoon fields located on large scale Northe-siuth trending anticlines. There are 15 commercial oil accumulations that have been discovered in South-eastern Iraq, for instance, Ahdab, Abu Ghraib, Amara, Jebel Fauqi, Dujaila, Buzurgan, Gharaf, Kumait, Huwaiza, Noor, nahr Umr, Rafadain, Tuba and Rafadain. The Mishrif formation occupies a narrow belt that runs NW-SE across south-eastern and central Iraq. Reserve quality decreases towards the Najaf intra shelf basin to the southwest. Reserve quality is great at the centre of Mishrif maximum dispatch in south east Iraq along the Iran border Mazeel (2012, p. 59). Oil terminals Iraq has three tanker terminals in the Persian Gulf: Basra port, Khor az-Zubair amd Khor al-Amaya. Basra is the largest oil terminal in Iraq, with two pipelines and four 400,000-bbl/d capacity of very large crude carriers (USA ibp, 2009, P. 83). Refining Iraq has eight oil refineries, none of this refineries was destroyed during the March –April 2003 war. Among the three largest oil refineries are 310,000-bbl/d Baiji, 110,000-bbl/d Doura plants and 150,000-bbl/d (Ghanim, 2011, p.204). In 2005, there are two small Prokop of Czech Republic and Hydrocarbon supply Ltd – signed contract that would see the Doura plant upgraded at an average cost of $110 million. The capacity of the plant was to be increased to 170,000 bbl/d. in April 2005, the country announced plans to establish new oil refinery in Basra that would have a capacity of 250,000-300,00 bbl/d. eight companies made bids to establish the refinery. Currently, Iraq’s refineries operate between 50 to 70 percent of its capacity. This prompts Iraq to import about 200,000 bbl/d of refined products that cost about $200-$250 million per month. This is exclusive of the additional cost of government subsidies on consumer prices of gasoline that runs at below 10 percent per gallon. The estimated indirect and direct oil subsidies cost the country $ 8billion annually. Conversely, the oil subsidies prompt smuggling of oil from Iraq. The illegal smuggling of oil in Iraq exacerbates oil shortage in Iraq. To reduce Iraq’s requirement for oil imports, much investment need to be done so that the refineries can be upgraded. Name Location Capacity 1 Salah al Din Complex Baiji 310 mbl/d 2 Dora Baghdad 210 mbl/d 3 Basra Basra 140 mbl/d 4 Diwaniyah Diwaniyah 20 mbl/d 5 Kasak Ninewa 10 mbl/d 6 Haditha Anbar 16 mbl/d 7-12 6 other small refineries Kirkuk, Syniah-Baiji, Najaf, Samawa, Nasiriyah, Maysan 30-80 mbl/d Total 886 mbl/d In addition + 70 mbl/d under construction Existing oil refineries and their capacities adapted from Iraq Refinery 2012 There are a number of products that are produced in the refineries, for instance, LPG, gasoline, kerosene &ATK, gas oil, heavy gas oil, sulpur, fuel oil, electrical power as well as blown asphalt Natural Gas According to Basra (2013), Iraq has 110 trillion cubic feet of natural gas deposits plus about 150 trillion cubic feet in probabale reserves. 70 percent of its natural gas is linked with the what is made up of non-associated gas along with dome gas. In 2002, the country produced about 83 billion cubic feet of natural gas, the amount decreased compared to 215 Bcf in 1989 (USA ibp, 2009, P. 84). The main sources of the country’s associated natural gas include the Ain Zalah, Kirkuk, Butma as well as Bay Hassan oil fields located in northern Iraq and the South and North Rumaila as well as Zubair fields located in the south. Currently, the country has a major gas pipeline that has a capacity of supplying 240 MMcf/d to Baghdada from the west Qurna field. (USA ibp, 2009, p.85). the 48-inch pipeline was started in November 1988 and phase two and three of the projects were not completed as a result of the war along with sanctions that were put on the country. Phase two and three were supposed to supply Turkey. Iraq intends to rise its natural gas so that it can reduce its oil consumption. Initially, natural gas was pumped into northern Kuwait from Rumaila through a 40-inch and a 105-mile pipeline (USA ibp, 2009, P. 85). Transportation Iraq’s geographic location dictates that oil that is exported should be transported via pipelines that traverse other nations which exposed the exported oil to developments as well as conditions beyond its control (Alnasrawi, 2002, p.17). References Alnasrawi, A 2002, Iraq’s burdens: Oil, sanctions and underdevelopment. New York: Greenwood publishing group. Alvarado, V & Manrique, E 2009 Enhanced oil recovery: Filed planning and development s trategies. New York, Gulf Professional Publishing. API 2008, Adventure in Energy, exploration and production process. Retrieved from http://www.adventuresinenergy.org/exploration-and-production/Extracting-Oil-and-Natural-Gas.html. Basra 2013, Iraq launches world’s largest flare reduction project. Iraq Business news.retrieved from http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/tag/basra-gas-company/ http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/tag/basra-gas-company/ Ghanim, D 2011, Iraq’s dysfunctional democracy, 2011, ABC-CLIO Iraq Refinery 2012 retrieved from http://www.iraqrefinery.com/ Isco 2012, Enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Retrieved from http://www.isco.com/WebProductFiles/Applications/105/Application_Notes/Enhanced_ Oil_Recovery.pdf Jarlett, H 2013, Magentic rocks aid oil exploration. Retrived from http://phys.org/news/2013-07- magnetic-aid-oil-exploration.html Mazeel, M 2012, Iraq oil an gas paper 2011.Hamburg: Disserta Verlag. Plint, A. Sedimentary facies analysis. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Rae, A 2009, Oil, Plastics and Power. London: Evans Brothers. Rodrigue, J., Comtois, C & Slack, B 2009, The Geography of Transport Systems, London: Routledge. Sino Australia Oil & Gas Pty Ltd 2013, Sino Australia Oil and Gas Ltd: An Introduction to enhanced oil recovery techniques. Retrieved from http://www.sinoaustoil.com/irm/content/pdf/Sino%20Australia%20Oil%20and%20Gas%20Technical%20Information.pdf Tordo, S 2011, National Oil Companies and value creation. Washington: The World Bank. USA Ibp 2009, Iraq Export-import trade and business directory, Int’l Business Publication. Read More