Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

The Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) announced that it works on new methods for increasing oil recovery at Azerbaijan's fields.

The ANAS Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics is conducting a research aimed at developing new methods for enhancing oil recovery at deep carbo-hydrogen fields.

Vice President of ANAS and the project manager, Ph.D Akif Hajiyev said the scientists are studying the problems arising in various processes, including clay swelling at high temperatures and pressures, associated deformation, tectonic faults, and other factors.

The research is being conducted as part of a grant from the Science Foundation of Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR.

The project's objective is to develop efficient methods for increasing oil production, as well as regulating, evaluating, and creating a mathematical model.

Some 90,000 manats (about $114,752) has been allocated to project, which is supposed to be completed in two years.

Azerbaijan is one of the world's oldest producing countries and has played a significant role in the development of today's oil industry. Traditionally the country has been a prolific oil producer, but Azerbaijan's importance as a natural gas supplier will grow in the future as field development and export infrastructure expands.

The country's largest hydrocarbon basins are located offshore in the Caspian Sea, particularly the Azeri Chirag Guneshli (ACG) field. Similar to its share of total production, ACG also holds the vast majority of Azerbaijan's total reserves, with approximately 5 billion barrels located in this field.

Azerbaijan's proven crude oil reserves were estimated at 7 billion barrels in January 2013. The country was among the 20 largest exporters of oil in the world in 2012.

Azerbaijan produces three grades of crude oil, the SOCAR-produced barrels, Azeri BTC, and Azeri Light.