When we talk about using smart technology to improve efficiency, we tend to focus on things like renewables, programmable thermostats and plug-in vehicles rather than oil production. But the reality is that oil isn’t going out of our lives anytime soon (not without inflicting some serious pain on society, anyway), and the way we extract petroleum could also be far more efficient.

Most of the world’s giant oilfields were discovered decades ago. As they age, reservoir pressure drops and eventually reaches the point where the oil won’t flow without help. Gas and water can be injected into wells to boost pressure, allowing more oil to be extracted. But these techniques can pose all sorts of complications, and operators often have to halt production to take pressure or temperature measurements so they can adjust gas injection rates for maximum oil output.

In an era of $100-plus oil, when every drop counts, reducing those interruptions in production is more important than ever. And a UK-based firm say it has the solution, one inspired — oddly enough — by a technology originally developed to reduce aircraft noise.

Camcon Oil is getting ready to launch the first trials of its technology, APOLLO DIAL (for “digital intelligent artificial lift”), in Oman and Brunei later this spring. As the name suggests, the device enables gas injection rates to be digitally controlled, and in real time, by operators at the surface without having to interrupt oil production. The innovation has the potential to make it both easier and more cost-effective to extract oil from ageing, depleting wells … of which there are plenty.

“It’s an intelligent and flexible device,” says Ian Anderson, the company’s chief operating officer. He adds that APOLLO can not only help to optimise pressure for a single well, but can be used to improve production conditions across an entire field.

The tests set for late May or early June will take place in two depleting onshore oil fields, one in Oman and one in Brunei. After around six months of trial operations, Camcon hopes to start commercial production in the later part of the year.

“We have a distribution agreement that covers the Gulf states,” Anderson says, adding that many more operators are likely to come on board if the technology proves itself in the field. In a sector that hasn’t seen many dramatic technological advances in years, APOLLO has the potential to “change the industry,” he says.

As for the DIAL technology’s originally intended purpose — reducing aircraft noise — there’s great potential there as well, Anderson says. For now, though, it will be up to the company’s partners to pursue that avenue: providing a much-needed boost to the oil industry at a critical time will be Camcon’s top priority for the foreseeable future.

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