IPEC Panels; From EOR to Petchem
The second Iran Petroleum and Energy Congress (IPEC) was held in Tehran on October 17 and 18. Five panels were held during the two days of the conference. Their themes were enhanced recovery from Iranian oil and gas fields and global experiences, business models of E&P companies, domestic and foreign investment in electricity industry, future petrochemical projects and strategies for the development of downstream sector, and private sector's involvement in the oil and gas industries.
Here is a brief review of the main points highlighted in the panels by representatives of foreign companies.
Jonathan Evans, VP Iran Access & VP Exploration Technical Functions at BP Exploration, spoke about BP's experience in enhanced recovery from oil and gas fields across the globe, including fields in Azerbaijan and Tatarstan.
He said BP's activities in some fields in southwest Kuwait have led to a 75% increase in the recovery rate of these fields.
He explained about different methods of enhanced oil recovery including polymer and chemical injection, as well as gas injection.
Evans also proposed EOR methods for enhanced recovery from Yadavaran and Azadegan fields in Iran.
EOR Significance
Danielle Morel, EOR Expert at TOTAL S.A., said success of enhanced recovery methods hinges on support by research and development (R&D) departments. She said that EOR needs to be promoted in Iran so that the significance of EOR methods would be known.
Morel also highlighted the significance of research, lab and pilot activities in EOR activities, saying most EOR methods were not cost-effective with the current oil prices. She noted that these methods would be more applicable in the Middle East petrostates.
Morel also referred to challenges on the way of EOR methods and Total's experience in applying such methods and polymer and carbon dioxide injection for boosting the fields' recovery rate.
Iran Can Become Third Petchem Producer
Serge Lorek, Total's Deputy Vice President Business Development Refining & Petrochemicals Orient, referred to Iran's capabilities in the downstream sector, saying Iran enjoys the potential to become the third largest producer of petrochemicals in the world.
He said that Iran currently stood in the 8th position, in terms of petrochemicals production.
Lorek referred to Iran's huge oil and gas reserves, high technical knowhow and educated manpower as the potentialities of Iran for growth and progress, saying Iran was among the leading producers of petrochemicals in the world.
He cited Iranian engineers' handling of oil, gas, petrochemical and refining projects during years of sanctions as indicative of capabilities of Iranian companies.
Lorek highlighted the development of upstream reserves for Iran's petroleum industry and noted that the market for Iran's petrochemical feedstock must become competitive.
He said that access to state-of-the-art technologies, financing as well as cost reduction were among other necessities of Iranian petroleum industry.
Petchem Development under Sanctions
Aman Amanpour, CEO of Amanpour Consulting, said Iran managed to make progress in the petrochemical sector during years of sanctions. He said that Iran has created an acceptable value chain.
He enumerated the achievements of Iran's petroleum industry in different sectors particularly petrochemical and refining, saying that the value-added generated in this industry during years of sanctions is due to the correct management of senior petroleum industry officials.
Amanpour outlined plans by different countries for generating value-added, saying countries like China are trying to link the chains of different industries in a bid to increase value-added.
Financing, Key to Development
Heiko Ammermann of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants said that financing is key to the development of petroleum industry in Iran. He was addressing the panel on the private sector's presence in the oil and gas industry.
Ammermann noted that international firms are still facing certain problems for doing business in Iran mainly regarding registration of their company and sharing dividends with stockholders.
He expressed hope that Roland Berger would be able to return to Iran for contributing to oil projects.
Ammermann said sanctions, legal ambiguities and inaccessible financial resources were among problems that Iran's petroleum industry used to grapple with in the past.