Hard-to-recover, high quality oils in the Russian Arctic

Irina Yashchenko,Yury Polishchuk

doi:10.3897/issn2541-8416.2018.18.4.155

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of the physico-chemical properties of hard-to-recover, high quality oils in the Russian sector of the Arctic. In view of the insufficient knowledge of the properties and conditions occurrence of hard-to-recover, high-quality oils in the Russian Arctic, the new results provided in the article on the properties of such oils determine the scientific novelty of the work. The main aim of the study is to study the physico-chemical properties and occurrence conditions of hard-to-recover, high quality oil in the Arctic zone of Russia based on information from the global database on the physico-chemical properties of oils. Based on the quality index and generalised petroleum classification proposed by the authors, a large collection of nearly 3,000 samples of hard-to-recover high-quality oils from the fields of the Russian Arctic was analysed. The features of the physico-chemical properties of hard-to-recover high-quality oils have been studied. It has been shown that hard-to-recover, high quality oil is generally of light or medium density, has medium or high viscosity and, as a rule, is impoverished by petroleum gas, sulphur and heavy metals. It is established that the content of resins and asphaltenes is minimal in the oil of the West Siberian basin and the maximum in the oil of the Leno-Tungusskiy basin. The results of the research are of great practical interest and can be used in developing new and improving existing methods and technologies for oil production, transport and processing of hard-to-recover high-quality oils from the localities of the Russian Arctic.

Highlights

The relevance of the work is determined by the lack of knowledge of the physico-chemical characteristics of hard-to-recover oils, considered as the main base of oil production growth in the medium term owing to depletion of accessible oil reserves (Ibraev 2006; Lisovskiy and Khalimov 2009; Lukyanov et al 2008; Purtova et al 2011; Yakuzeni 2005)
The physico-chemical properties of hard-to-recover high quality oils in Russian sector of the Arctic were analysed using the petroleum chemistry database of Institute of Petroleum Chemistry, SB RAS, Tomsk, Russia (Yashchenko and Polishchuk 2014), which contains over 32,940 oil types
This approach, successfully applied in analysing the physico-chemical properties of different quality classes of hard-to-recover oils (HRO), made it possible to study the geographical features of the occurrence of different types of HRO in oil-bearing areas and to make a map of the spatial distribution of HRO of different quality classes, in particular in the Russian Arctic (Yashchenko and Polishchuk 2017)

Summary

Introduction

The relevance of the work is determined by the lack of knowledge of the physico-chemical characteristics of hard-to-recover oils, considered as the main base of oil production growth in the medium term owing to depletion of accessible oil reserves (Ibraev 2006; Lisovskiy and Khalimov 2009; Lukyanov et al 2008; Purtova et al 2011; Yakuzeni 2005). This makes it difficult to assess the prospects for and determine the directions of development of the domestic oil and gas complex. The Russian Arctic, being a region of special geopolitical, scientific and socio-economic interest to the Russian Federation, constitutes an important oil and gas reserve of the state, which requires serious attention and large investments in the 10–20 years (Askhabov et al 2014; Bortnikov 2014; Kaminskii et al 2011, 2014; Kontorovich 2014; Kontorovich at al. 2010; Laverov et al 2016; Piskarev and Shkatov 2012; Rudskij 2015; Tkachev 2015)

Objectives

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion