Oil & Gas industry challenges for the Nanotech community

• Overview
• Nanoscience's Role
• NanoSensors
• NanoMaterials & Coatings
• Nano-scale Fluid Additives
• Nano-membranes
• Chemical Delivery Systems

 Fuel your imagination

Oil and gas play a tremendous role in fostering innovation and technological progress. Easy access to energy drives industry and trade and fosters economic prosperity. It propels the technological advancements that provide stability and enhanced living conditions for human communities across the globe. As demand for this increased living standard and industrialization grows, so too does the demand on our energy sources. India and China have the fastest growing consumption rates for hydrocarbons. The International Energy Agency estimates that by 2030 the world’s energy needs could be 50 per cent higher than they are today. This poses increasingly complex challenges for the energy sector; to keep the world supplied with energy for the foreseeable future.

Fossil fuels have been the largest source of the world’s reliable energy; oil and gas comprising more than half the world’s supply. But the energy sector faces increasingly complex challenges: Global competition for natural resources has led many companies to explore in harsh and unforgiving environments, such as offshore waters and remote onshore locations, where production is difficult. Energy companies are increasingly turning towards non-conventional sources of oil such as heavy oil, shale oil, and biofuels, which present unique challenges of their own. Yet recovery rates of conventional oils could be far greater, many existing reservoirs remain underutilized: the worldwide average recovery factor for conventional oil reservoirs is around 35 per cent of the original oil in place. Ultimately, the bottom line for the industry is the need to extract more oil and minimize costs.

Yet sustainability issues are also increasingly coming to the fore as energy providers are challenged by their stakeholders to develop corporate social responsibility by balancing economic performance with environmental stewardship. Oil companies need to find ways to maintain profitable operations while still protecting the earth’s fragile ecosystems. It is important to bear in mind that oil reservoirs are dynamic - what we do to them changes their properties, and also influences their surrounding environment.