International R&D and Survey Cooperation

1. Individual Researches Based on Agreements by the International Organizations
1) We participated in the EOR International Joint Research Project hosted by the IEA, and presented two dissertations at the workshop: "Evaluation of light oil air injection process by combustion tube tests. Takabayashi K. et al." and "Asphaltene precipitation during CO2 injection in sandstone and carbonate cores. An investigative analysis through laboratory tests and compositional simulation. Takahashi S. et al." We also exchanged information with the participants from the U.S.A., Great Britain, France, Norway, Austria, Canada, Australia, and other countries.

2) A symposium was held along with the IEA-Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, for companies and universities, who are not member organizations. Its theme was "CO2 Geological Storage." Teikoku Oil Co., Ltd. from Japan presented on "CO2 Geological Sequestration Field Experiment Planned in Japan. Otake M. et al."

3) For this project, each member country takes turns to hosting its annual meeting and symposium, and Norway hosted it in September 2004. The third meeting will be held in Japan in the fall of 2005. The Technology and Research Center (TRC) will assist in the arrangements and we will also work on inviting companies and universities to the symposium.

2. R&D and Survey Cooperation Based on the Agreement with the National Oil Companies and Laboratories of the Oil Producing Countries
For joint research with oil producing countries, we have encouraged technicians from the countries' national oil companies to participate. At the same time, we've made an effort to hold interim meetings and workshops to give detailed research reports. As a result, Iran's NIOC/RIPI, Abu Dhabi's ADNOC, and Mexico's PEMEX have given credit to our effort. As an appeal of our technology level to the oil-producing countries, we are applying the "survey on reservoir's flow properties" and its upscaling researches to actual reservoirs, and in particular, researches based on lab experiments are playing a big part. Below is the outline of our individual researches:

(a) Joint Research with Abu Dhabi's ADNOC
1) "Technology to develop low permeable and heterogeneous carbonate reservoirs" is one of the joint researches with the national oil company ADNOC. The details are described in the previous chapter.

2) As a part of the specialized research "Optimization of corrosion resistant material selection with Dynamic Field Tester," we set the Dynamic Field Tester (DFT) in the Babu oilfield, in Abu Dhabi, and it contributed to providing useful data for the optimization of tubing materials under a corrosive environment for one year since January 2001. As a result, it was proved that the lab experiment widely used to select the tubing materials under the corrosive environment could be over-spec'd though we are assuming the harshest condition. For this reason, the experiment has been extended 2 more years to verify the correlation between the experiment and the internal (Downhole Coupon) and DFT environment, particularly with the effect of moisture. As of December 2004, we are aiming for submission of the final report to ADNOC.

3) The TRC was successful in mixing and pressurizing the oil and gas produced with the Twin-Screw Type Multiphase Pump, which was developed by the TRC and a pump maker and set for repairing the wellhead and for purging in Upper Zakum Field in the first half of 2003. This was proof that we can contribute to the zero-emission project that the Abu Dhabi government is promoting.

(b) Joint Research with Iran's NIOC/RIPI
1) For "Technical collaboration on the process development for the OCM technology," we led the project to develop fluidized bed reactors using the catalyst developed by the RIPI with the cooperation of Tokyo Institute of Technology, Waseda University, and Toyo Engineering for the entire design of the process from December 2002 to June 2004. We also accepted some engineers from Iran several times.

2) We are currently in the final stage before implementing the "joint research of geochemical studies and Paleozoic rock evaluation" with NIOC/EP.

(c) Joint Research with Mexico's PEMEX
On October 15, 2003, we enetered into agreement with PEMEX E&P to extend the general agreement on technical collaboration for 5 years as well as to start two projects; "Optimization of development scheme in Agua Fria, Coapechaca and Tajin Area" as second phase of the joint research on Chicontepec Basin, and "Collaborative study on S-wave seismic technique and other geophysical methods for exploration and development of Cuitlahuac gas field in Burgos Basin".
We are obtaining fruitful results.

(d) Joint Feasibility Study with Indonesia's Pertamina
For the underdeveloped gas fields that had already been discovered in Indonesia, we conducted the sight survey on two gas fields from January 2002, and discussed its cost efficiency, marketability, and business model on the basis of the joint research contract between Pertamina and JOGMEC as Phase-2 of the feasibility study of GTL technology, currently under development by the TRC Consortium. Its demonstration, plant planning, and commercial plant business planning will be finalized by September 2004.

3. Hosting and participating in International Researches and Survey Consortiums
We are participating in international researches and survey consortiums to learn basic research information, to catch up with the frontier movement, and to apply the results of international projects and surveys to our own researches, technical support, and survey business.