The role of enhanced oil recovery in the upstream petroleum sector, a case study from Turkey

The upstream petroleum sector issues still keep its popularity worldwide. Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is an essential unconventional method of improving production in the petroleum sector. The EOR is gaining more importance in the sector. 2% of the global crude oil production is performed by EOR operations currently. The crude oil production of Turkey which is now in a decreasing trend is performed from old and mature oil fields. Sharp declines are expected for the oil production in the near future if new discoveries do not take place or enhanced oil production techniques are not performed. The average recovery rate for the crude oil fields in Turkey is about at 20%. An increase in this ratio can provide significant amount of crude oil to Turkish production. The ratio of crude oil production by EOR methods is about 15% currently in Turkey. In this study, the historical background of EOR projects is explained and potential EOR methods have been discussed for Turkish crude oil fields. The aim of the research is to evaluate the crude oil production potential from existing oil fields of Turkey based on EOR methods matching with the characteristics of oil fields with statistical information on world EOR outlook