Rosneft to invest 50 bln rubles in innovation in 2011-2015
MOSCOW. Jan 12 (Interfax) - Rosneft will invest 50 billion rubles in innovation activities in 2011-2015, the company's innovative development program says.
The oil company spent 8.4 billion rubles to finance its innovation activities in 2011, and 3 billion rubles in 2010.
The investment program distinguishes 20 priority directions for innovation, including unconventional hydrocarbon sources (viscous oil, pools, gas hydrates, and oil from coal), non-hydrocarbon material, petro and gas chemical technology, GTL and alternative energy.
One of Rosneft's key production tasks is to translate Eastern Siberian and offshore resources into proven reserves. It also needs to minimize the cost of reserves growth. In order to fulfill these tasks, Rosneft requires high-resolution technology for exploring and estimating reserves, laboratory complexes for enhancing the non-standard survey of reservoir and fluid properties, and 3D-modeling technology for complex geological structures.
With regards to exploration and development, the company is tasked with boosting the oil recovery factor, minimizing unit capital and operating costs, and increasing associated gas utilization to 95%. To these ends, Rosneft will need new systems for developing low-permeability and complex reservoirs, design technology, and high-tech wells. In addition, it will need technology for localizing and developing residual reserves, technology for separating gas and isolating valuable components, and facilities for producing liquefied hydrocarbons from gas.
In order to efficiently develop its offshore projects, Rosneft will need technology for installing and operating fields in conditions of ice and seasonal work, technology for ensuring environmental safety for offshore work, and technology for protecting underwater equipment from hydrogen sulfide.
One of Rosneft's target innovation projects is boosting the efficiency of developing low-permeability sand-silt deposits. In this direction, the company plans to develop a method for forecasting well flow rates, and to pick up technology for building and completing wells, which will ensure economic efficiency in developing reserves of low-permeability reservoirs. Other innovation projects include elaborating technology for developing carbonate-argillaceous-siliceous strata at the Bazhenov Suite. Rosneft also plans to work out technology for developing low-permeability Turonian gas deposits.
Rosneft will also work towards developing new regions, in particular Eastern Siberian fields far removed from areas with developed infrastructure, which will require searching for new technological solutions for preparing and separating valuable components (helium) and transporting gas. In order to solve this task, the company has initiated a number of projects, including developing technology for membranous separation of helium, technology for jointly transporting oil and gas, gas preparation utilizing supersonic separation technology, and creation of a GTL pilot plant.