Study of the Production Technologies of Heavy Crude Oil

Abstract

Roughly 10% of the world’s daily supply of petroleum is so thick that it cannot flow through pipelines on its own. The importance of heavy oil often defined as anything less than 20 American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity is escalating due to its sheer volume. While proven oil reserves worldwide stand at more than 1,200 billion barrels of conventional crude oil, the amount of heavy oil in place is five to ten times greater. In the decades ahead, heavy oil is likely to affect the global supply dynamics since 80% of the known heavy oil reserves are in the western hemisphere. It is mandatory that India utilizes the most of what it has. The problem is that heavy crude oil is notoriously difficult to recover, transport and refine. Only 6-8% of the available oil is considered recoverable with conventional technology. The main technical challenges are to lower the viscosity of the oil, understand its composition and handle heavier components. In the present study, various technologies related to the production of heavy crude oil are reviewed. The largest and the newest heavy oil field in India, i.e., Barmer region, Rajasthan, is considered as a case study.