Jan 28
Did you know that much of the oil in the ground is still present after primary recovery? In the king’s english that means there is still a lot of oil left in a well even after 10 years of pumping. The reason oil production slows is that the natural drive that once pushed oil aggressively towards the wellbore has subsided. Normally, the natural drive is either water or gas in the formation. In this article, we look to explain some of the common enhanced or secondary/tertiary methods of oil recovery.
With oil hitting new highs every day, it is clear the cost benefit of utilizing technology to get at extra production makes sense. When oil was in the $10-20 range, the incremental cost of some enhanced oil recovery methods did not make economic sense.
One of the most common secondary recovery methods is a waterflood. Essentially, a waterflood is a reintroduction of water into the formation to create a drive to push more oil towards the wellbore. To increase the efficiency of a waterflood, new methods utilize Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer floods and some explorers are introducing microbes into the wellbore to increase the sweep efficiency of the flood, both methods have been met with success.
One method I find very interesting and have used with success on one oil well is the radial jet enhancement. The technology utilizes jets of high water pressure to cut laterally into the formation up to almost 300 feet. The technology can be viewed at www.wellenhancementservices.com, ask for Steve Bowen if you are interested in utilizing the technology on some of your new or old wells.
With 80% of the oil still in the ground after primary recovery, there is still plenty of meat on the bone for utilizing EOR. New technologies are constantly being tested and will lead to greater gains in the future. One area I am very interested in is new drilling technology. The rotary drilling rig has not changed radically in 100 years but new advances are coming and we’ll discuss those in future blogs.
Jan 26
Dubai one of the states in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) seeks today to move away from its traditional oil dependence to a more balanced one based on tourism and services. As a result, its economy has grown with more and more tourism resorts coming up to meet this aim. This article will list three reasons why you should invest in the Dubai today.
Firstly, Dubai as mentioned earlier is becoming a services hub and in particular a financial services hub, there is going to be an increase in the number of foreign professionals who are flocking there to work and with a high pay and tax free status over there, the average rental yields of properties there is above the average. Currently the single room studio apartments are doing the best in terms of rental since the expatriates that work in Dubai tend to be single individuals so this would be a great real estate investment tip to note if you intend to invest in Dubai.
Secondly, the cost of Dubai property relative to international standards is still very low and as a result the chance of a large capital appreciation increase is very high. Coupled with the bullish take on rentals as mentioned above, the prices of your real estate investment in Dubai will be set to soar in the next few months.
The reasoning cited by some real estate professionals is that when US and UK sourced money starts flowing into such properties, the value of the real estate will reach international standards and you would make a handsome profit from the capital appreciation.
Thirdly, there is currently a Disneyland attraction being built there and this would result in an increase in tourist visitors to Dubai. If your property is located near Disneyland, there is a chance that you will be able to rent out your property to people going there on holiday. As for problems with rental collections, most real estate companies double up as property mangers and developers so they will be able to handle most of the payment collections on your behalf.
In conclusion, Dubai represents one of the emerging markets where your investment dollar may make a lot more. Spending some time considering whether you want to investment in Dubai property may be worthwhile when considering the potential benefits involved.