Corec is a joint project by the University of Stavanger, the research foundation IRIS and ConocoPhillips. The centre was established to increase oil production from Ekofisk and from other fields with similar chalk reservoirs.
‘This year’s award is recognition of a demanding and continuous research effort to increase oil production,’ said director general Bente Nyland when she awarded the prize at the Norwegian Petroleum Society’s conference on reservoir management in Stavanger on 7 June.
Tor Austad is a professor of reservoir chemistry at the University of Stavanger, and has been researching chemical methods for improving oil production, especially the chemical understanding of why sea water is so effective in carbonate reservoirs, for a long time.
‘Sea water injection has resulted in a dramatic increase in oil production on Ekofisk. Without this method, the recovery rate would be at around 30 percent rather than the current 50-55 percent,’ says Austad, who has been working on this for 15 years.
Manager of Corec, Sigmund Stokka, praises ConocoPhillips, which with a contribution of 10 million kroner per year has ensured the long-term stability of the research.
Corec manager Sigmund Stokka (left) and professor Tor Austad received the
IOR award from NPD director general Bente Nyland. (Photo: Astri Sivertsen.)