Dear colleagues!
Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry is entering a stage where the sustainable development of production will increasingly depend not only on the discovery of new fields, but also on how effectively operators manages and develops its existing resource base. A significant share of producing assets is now mature, where water cut continues to increase, the proportion of residual and hard-to-recover reserves is growing. Thus, oil industry faces the strategic task of systematically improving oil recovery. In this context, the broad implementation of modern enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies is becoming one of the key drivers for maintaining and increasing oil production.
Despite the substantial potential of residual oil reserves, the deployment of advanced EOR technologies across most fields in Kazakhstan remains limited. At the same time, global experience demonstrates that the application of thermal, chemical, gas and combined EOR methods can significantly increase oil recovery, extend the economic life of fields, and secure incremental production without relying on the discovery of new big fields.
For Kazakhstan, one of the most pressing priorities today is not only the discovery of new fields, but the improvement of oil recovery by at least 1–2%. Even 1% increase in oil recovery across major mature fields could unlock tens of millions of tons of additional oil without discovering new reserves. It is around this strategic objective that the National EOR Forum is being organized.
The objective of the Forum is to shape a national strategy for enhancing oil recovery and unlocking residual hydrocarbon reserves, thereby supporting the sustainable development of Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry through 2030.
The National EOR Forum is intended to become a key industry platform for consolidating the efforts of government bodies, oil and gas operators, research and design organizations, service companies and world experts. Its key outcome should be a shift from discussing the challenges of mature fields to developing a concrete portfolio of EOR projects with measurable impact in terms of incremental oil production, EOR and practical implementation at oil fields across the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2027–2030.
The Forum is proposed as the main industry event of the year, bringing together the key topics of recovery factor improvement, EOR implementation, digital technologies for field development, world best practices exchange, and the formation of Kazakhstan’s long-term oil production strategy.
We invite the professional community to take an active part in shaping the National Strategy for Enhanced Oil Recovery and the development of residual hydrocarbon reserves!