RECOVERY TARGET: PRUDHOE BAY HEAVY CRUDE OIL

The U.S. Department of Energy has approved a research project to develop a process to produce heavy oil from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay field. DOE's National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research (Niper) in Bartlesville, Okla., will perform laboratory work for the $6.364 million project. Prudhoe Bay producer BP Exploration Inc. will contribute $4.97 million and DOE the rest.

Feb. 13, 1995

The U.S. Department of Energy has approved a research project to develop a process to produce heavy oil from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay field.

DOE's National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research (Niper) in Bartlesville, Okla., will perform laboratory work for the $6.364 million project. Prudhoe Bay producer BP Exploration Inc. will contribute $4.97 million and DOE the rest.

Prudhoe Bay field has an extensive heavy oil zone, 30-80 ft thick and containing 1.54 billion bbl of oil. Heavy oil reserves are usually shallow, but the Prudhoe Bay zone is deep and lies under a thick column of light oil.

DOE said the Prudhoe Bay zone appears to have relatively high temperature and pressure and a much higher gas:oil ratio than normally found in conventional heavy oil pay zones.

The research will seek an efficient recovery process for the heavy oil. Niper researchers will conduct basic laboratory work, which will take about 3 years, while BP conducts simulation studies. The research may lead to a pilot production project.

The cooperative research and development agreement with BP is the first such deal for Niper.