Expert offers hope for boosting oil output
Oilmen hear about techniques to stretch reserves

TULSA — New twists on old techniques are available to prod more oil out of the ground.

They were described this week to about 30 independent oilmen by an associate professor at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

Sayavur I. Bakhtiyarov outlined various methods for increasing production at a meeting sponsored by the Engineers Society of Tulsa and Energy Reclamation LLC of Tulsa.

He said Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was dismayed when he learned that only about 20 percent of reserves were recoverable. Since then, the industry has explored various ways to make production more efficient.

Bakhtiyarov, a native of Baku, Azerbaijan, now lives permanently in the United States.

A Department of Energy report indicates that of 71 of Oklahoma reservoirs with favorable geology, there was originally 60.3 billion barrels of oil, of which 45.1 billion barrels remain in the ground.

With the best technology of today, 9 billion more barrels can be recovered. The next generation of technology could recover an additional 20.1 billion barrels from Oklahoma, the report stated.

"Dr. B's Cocktail" uses the proven secondary recovery technique of carbon dioxide to reduce the thickness of the crude oil.

Instead of injecting carbon dioxide, Bakhtiyarov's calls for producing it in the ground, eliminating the need for expensive equipment, pipelines, power consumption, corrosion, decreases water produced by the wells and works in severe climates.

Bakhtiyarov said it was "a very slow process ... it takes time" — about two years — but tests — some of the them in Siberia — have resulted in production a third higher than projected. The process can be repeated in 18 to 24 months.

Another method, known as Briggeman's technology, uses an engine on a mobile platform to inject exhaust gases into a well that, in concept, cuts the density. The "most important part of this process," Bakhtiyarov said, is that produces a dry gas that's environmentally friendly.

Zytec International Inc. of Galena, Mo. has developed a product that removes paraffin deposits, sludge and other deposits from pipelines, tanks and turns them into a pumpable product.

It needs only 175 parts per million compared with most solvents than required 1,500 arts per million.