GCC members of the global oil trade body Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF) have agreed to address technology challenges with the aim of working on joint industry projects (JIPs)
The ITF GCC Members’ Summit was hosted at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)’s office and attended by members Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and ADNOC. They came forward to support the cause of JIPs by exploring common collaborative opportunities and eventually gain market intelligence.
ITF CEO Patrick O’Brien said, “Our GCC members are showing significant appetite for developing new technologies. ITF has done a great deal of work with our Middle East members in building trust and promoting and spearheading collaborative activity in the region. Member companies in the region are now collectively sharing ideas for the first time and we hope to launch a call for proposals, based on these common themes, later in the year.”
To get the idea moving, the meeting covered two main agendas – discussion and commitment to support ongoing GCC roadmap activity and a review of current and future ITF themes and proposal activity. Based on the feedback provided by the key members, the challenges identified were mature fields, hybrid enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and fluid/front injection water monitoring and management challenges.
The members are expected to work with the ITF sub-surface team to define initial problem statements related to the three challenges, as it will support the definition of related calls for proposals, which will occur between now and October.
Calls are expected to result in the launch of a number of JIPs, with up to 100 per cent funding from the ITF members, said ITF officials.
The second part of the summit allowed GCC members to be informed of ITF’s ongoing global proposals that include EOR in carbonates, production monitoring for highly heterogenous reservoirs, downhole oil-water separation, triaxial borehole gravity and positioning, and Fullwave Gamechanger Phase 2.
