Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 42 (2004) 73 – 78
www.elsevier.com/locate/petrol
Editorial
Petroleum exploration and production research in the Middle East
1. A brief history of petroleum exploration and
production
The major oil-producing countries in the Middle
East include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
(UAE), Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.
Geographical location of these countries in the Persian
Gulf area is shown in Fig. 1.
Proved oil reserves in the Middle East total 685
billion barrels which represents approximately 65% of
proved oil reserves in the world (Oil and Gas Journal
Data Book, 2002; BP Statistical Review of Energy,
2003). Daily production in 2002 for the Middle East
stood at almost 21 million barrels, representing over
28% of global production. Saudi Arabia has the
largest production capacity and produced 8.7 million
bbl/day (mmstb/d) throughout 2002.
Commercial production in the region began in
1908 with the discovery of commercial quantities of
oil in Iran. This production was quickly followed by
other discoveries, although production remained low
as a fraction of world production for the first half of
the last century. However, the discovery of very large
oil fields in Kuwait (1937) and Saudi Arabia (1938)
set the stage for substantial production enhancement
as world demand grew in later years.
By the early 1970s, the region accounted for a
significant portion of world oil production. Many of
the countries in the region have used the wealth
created by oil to support infrastructure projects. This
included the establishment of petroleum-related re-
search universities in the region.
Most of the production in the Middle Eastern
countries is subject to production quotas set by the
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC). OPEC members in the Middle East include
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Qatar and the
0920-4105/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2003.12.001
UAE with a combined production of approximately
18 million barrels per day. National Oil Companies
play an important role in the mapping of strategy
and the production of petroleum.
Saudi Arabia produced 8.6 million barrels per
day (mmstb/d) in 2002, down from a peak of 9.4
mmstb/d in 1998. Saudi Aramco, the national com-
pany for Saudi Arabia, has its roots in an explora-
tion concession in the eastern part of the country
which was formed in 1933 by a subsidiary of
Standard Oil of California (now Chevron Texaco).
Texaco acquired 50% of the company in 1936. Both
Socony and Standard Oil of New Jersey (both now
Exxon Mobil) acquired a share in the company in
1948. The Saudi Arabian government acquired a
25% share of Aramco in 1973; by 1980, the
government share of the company stood at 100%.
Saudi Aramco now operates all production and
refining in Saudi Arabia and has marketing and
refining interests in the Philippines, Greece and the
United States.
Production from Iran averaged 3.4 mmstb/d in
2002. The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)
was formed in 1951 to acquire and operate con-
cessions in Iran from foreign companies [principally
Anglo – Iranian (now BP), Shell, Total, Mobil and
Standard Oil of New Jersey]. In 1953, a consortium
of companies which formed the Iranian Oil Partic-
ipants, ran the oil production in Iran. IOP continued
until 1973 when NIOC regained control of oil
exploration and production. Since the mid-1990s,
NIOC has concluded a number of agreements with
foreign oil companies to speed the development of
Iran’s petroleum resources.
In 2002, production from Iraq averaged 2.0 mmstb/
d under the control of Iraq Petroleum which has its
roots in the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) which
74 Editorial

Fig. 1. Map of oil-producing countries in the Middle East and Persian Gulf region.
 Editorial
was formed in 1912 in the last years of the Ottoman
Empire. No concession was awarded to TPC until
1925, and the company changed its name to Iraq
Petroleum in 1929. The company was active in
exploration throughout the Gulf and created subsidi-
aries in Basrah, Mosul and Abu Dhabi. Iraq complet-
ed acquisition of all privately held shares in 1973.
The total production from the United Arab Emi-
rates was 2.3 mmstb/d in 2002. Each of the oil-
producing Emirates in the UAE has its own national
oil company. The largest of these is ADNOC, the Abu
Dhabi National Oil. Oil production from Abu Dhabi is
by means of individual operating companies which
oversee the development of one or more reservoirs or
fields. The two largest operating companies are
ADMA and ADCO which are involved in offshore
and onshore development. ADNOC is a majority
shareholder in these companies which oversees the
day-to-day operation of the fields. The private part-
ners in these operating companies, which include
Exxon Mobil, Total, JODCO and BP, play an active
role in the operations.
In 2002, the production from Kuwait averaged 1.9
mmstb/d. Kuwait Petroleum oversees production, re-
fining, marketing and shipping of petroleum products
through its wholly owned subsidiaries. Kuwait Oil
(KOC) is the subsidiary concerned with onshore
production from Kuwait. KOC has its roots in a
1934 joint venture between BP and Gulf (now Chev-
ron Texaco). The State of Kuwait acquired complete
ownership of KOC in 1975.
Oman produced at an average daily rate of 0.9
mmstb/d during 2002. Petroleum Development Oman
(PDO) is the primary producer of hydrocarbons from
the Sultanate of Oman. PDO was originally a part-
nership between Shell, CFP (now Total) and Partex
which was formed in 1937. The government of Oman
now controls 60% of PDO, but the private partners
remain active participants. Production from Qatar
averaged 0.7 mmstb/d. Their national oil company is
Qatar Petroleum (QP).
It is believed that large quantities of undiscovered
offshore oil reserves may be available under the
waters of the Persian Gulf. Even without such
reserves, the proved oil reserves in this area are more
than two-thirds of the world oil reserves, and the
production in this area may continue long after
production declines in other parts of the world.
75
2. Research institutions
Oil revenues have been used to create a number
of research and teaching universities throughout the
Middle East. Many of the papers in this issue were
submitted by professors from these institutions. The
largest university in the region is the University of
Tehran with over 30,000 students in several loca-
tions. The university was founded in 1934 and has
an extensive teaching and research programme
which includes the awarding of Masters and PhD
degrees. Shiraz University, also in Iran, has 25
advanced programmes and over 12,000 students.
Most of the other universities in the Middle East
were founded in the past 40 years. King Fahd
University of Petroleum and Minerals was founded
in Saudi Arabia in 1963. It currently has over
10,000 students and offers Bachelors and Masters
degrees in engineering. Kuwait University (KU),
with over 17,000 students was founded in 1966.
The College of Engineering and Petroleum at KU
has enrolment of 2200 students and was founded in
1975. This college offers BSc and MSc degrees and
consists of eight departments: Architecture, Chemi-
cal, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Industrial, Mechan-
ical and Petroleum. UAE University, founded in
1976, has over 15,000 students, of which, over
1000 are enrolled in Engineering.
3. About this special issue
Given the statistics from the preceding sections,
it was appropriate to showcase the research efforts
which are of interest to investigators in the Middle
East region. This region produces over half of the
world’s oil; topics of interest or concern in this
region are by their nature of global interest. Efforts
for the preparation of this special issue began in
August 2002. More than 30 abstracts were received
from different researchers working in various re-
search centres and universities in Kuwait, United
Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Because research activities in Iran were included in
a previously published special issue of this journal
[26, Issues 1 –4, May 2000], only joint papers with
other researchers in the region were considered for
inclusion in this issue. A total of 15 papers were
76 Editorial
accepted for inclusion in this special issue which
include four from UAE, five from Kuwait, two
from Saudi Arabia and four from Qatar and Iran.
Among these papers, one paper is from Kuwait Oil,
one paper from the petroleum research centre in
Iran and 11 papers from universities in the region.
UAE University in Al-Ain, UAE with four papers
and Kuwait University with five papers are major
organizations contributing to this issue. In addition,
two papers from King Fahd University of Petroleum
and Minerals (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia), one joint
paper from Tehran and Qatar Universities and
another joint paper between Shiraz and Qatar Uni-
versities have been included in this issue. The titles
and authors of papers in this issue are given below
where corresponding authors are specified by *:
1. ‘‘Modern E&P Data Management in Kuwait Oil’’
G. Haveluck Harrison* and Fadel Safar, Kuwait
Oil Company, Kuwait.
2. ‘‘Probabilistic Methods in Petroleum Resource
Assessment, with Some Examples Using Data
from the Arabian Region’’
Rao S. Divi, Department of Earth and Environ-
mental Sciences, Kuwait University.
3. ‘‘Investigation of in-situ Low-Temperature Oxida-
tion as a Viable Sand Consolidation Technique’’
M.A. Aggour*, Sidqi A. Abu-Khamsin, El-Sayed
A. Osman, King Fahd University of Petroleum and
Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
4. ‘‘A Finite Element Model for Analyzing Horizontal
Well BHA Behavior’’
F. Akgun, United Arab Emirates University, Chem-
ical and Petroleum Engineering, Al-Ain, UAE.
5. ‘‘Thermal Transients During Non-Isothermal Fluid
Injection into Oil Reservoirs’’
Ibrahim Kocabas, Chem. and Pet. Eng. Dept., UAE
University, Al Ain, UAE.
6. ‘‘An Analysis of Methods for Determination of
Onsets of Asphaltene Phase Separations’’
S.A. Mousavi-Dehghani, National Iranian Oil,
RIPI, Tehran, Iran; M.R. Riazi, Department of
Chemical Engineering, Kuwait University, Safat,
Kuwait; M. Vafaie-Sefti, Department of Chemical
Engineering, Tarbiat-Modarress University, Teh-
ran, Iran; and G.A. Mansoori*, Department of
Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at
Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
7. ‘‘A New Single Well Model for Asphaltene
Precipitation and Deposition Around Production
Wells’’
R.A. Almehaideb, Chemical and Petroleum En-
gineering Department, UAE University, Al-Ain,
UAE.
8. ‘‘The Effect of Fracture Characteristics on
Reduction of Permeability by Asphaltene Precip-
itation in Carbonate Formation’’
Abdulrazag Y. Zekri* and Shedid Ali Shedid,
Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Depart-
ment, UAE University, Al Ain, UAE.
9. ‘‘Use of Reservoir Simulation for Optimizing
Recovery Performance’’
Ridha B.C. Gharbi, Department of Petroleum
Engineering, College of Engineering and Petro-
leum, Kuwait University.
10. ‘‘Impact of Characterization Methods on Proper-
ties of Reservoir Fluids and Crude Oils: Options
and Restrictions’’
M.R. Riazi, H. A. Al-Adwani, A. Bishara,
Department of Chemical Engineering, Kuwait
University, Safat, Kuwait.
11. ‘‘Evaluation of Empirically Derived PVT Proper-
ties for Middle East Crude Oils’’
Muhammad Ali Al-Marhoun, Department of
Petroleum Engineering, King Fahd University of
Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi
Arabia.
12. ‘‘Application of an Improved Equation of State to
Reservoir Fluids: Computation of Minimum
Miscibility Pressure’’
Kh. Nasrifar1, M. Moshfeghian2,* 1Institute of
Petroleum Engineering, University of Tehran,
Tehran, Iran. 2Department of Chemical Engineer-
ing, University of Qatar, Doha, Qatar.
13. ‘‘Use of a Novel Surfactant for Improving the
Transportability/Transportation of Heavy/Viscous
Crude Oil’’
Yousef Al-Roomi1*, Reena George1, Ahmed
Elgibaly2 and Ali Elkamel1, 1Chemical Engineer-
ing Department, College of Engineering and
Petroleum, Kuwait University, Kuwait. 2Depart-
ment of Petroleum Engineering, College of
Engineering and Mining, Suez—Egypt.
14. ‘‘Intermittent Gas-Lift in Aghajari Oil Field, a
Mathematical Study’’
Shahaboddin Ayatollahia,*, Mostafa Narimania
 Editorial
and Mahmood Moshfeghiana,b,* a School of
Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz
University, Shiraz, Iran. b Department of Chem-
ical Engineering, University of Qatar, P.O. Box
2713, Doha, Qatar.
15. ‘‘Wettability Evaluation of Iranian Carbonate
Formations’’
M.R. Esfahani, Iran Research Institute of Petro-
leum Industry, Tehran, Iran; Manouchehr Ha-
ghighi*, Center of Excellence for Petroleum
Engineering Studies at University of Tehran,
Tehran, Iran.
The 1st paper by Harrison and Safar of Kuwait Oil
Company (KOC) presents a method of management
of exploration and production data gathered over the
past 50 years in Kuwait. The data classes range from
seismic, geological, petrophysical, drilling, production
operations, production and injection volumes, surface
and downhole facilities, PVT, well surveillance and
others. The development of decision support systems
for converting stored data to information is also
presented in this paper.
The 2nd paper by R.S. Divi from the Department
of Earth Sciences at Kuwait University presents the
appropriate selection of probability methods at differ-
ent stages of assessment and exploration activities.
The methodologies are illustrated with examples from
different parts of the world including the Arabian
Region.
Sand control is the subject of the 3rd paper by
Aggour et al. from Saudi Arabia. The results of the
laboratory development phase of a project to develop
a sand control technique to overcome the technical
and economic limitations associated with existing
methods of sand control are discussed.
In the 4th paper by Akgun of UAE University, the
production rate in horizontal wells is analyzed through
a finite element model. Professor Akgun discusses
reasons for lower production rates in comparison with
vertical wells.
An analytical model of thermal transients is
presented in the 5th paper by Kocabas of UAE
University. This model permits the calculation and
analysis of temperature gradients and heat flux
during nonisothermal fluid injections into oil reser-
voirs. This sort of analysis is required to improve
the determination of thermal efficiency during fluid
77
injection into oil reservoirs, e.g., in improved oil
recovery.
In the 6th paper, various methods of determina-
tion of asphaltene onset are analyzed. The 7th and
8th papers, both from UAE University, present
models for asphaltene precipitation around produc-
tion wells and reduction of permeability caused by
asphaltene precipitation. Many oil fields in the
Persian Gulf region contain significant asphaltene
levels and/or tar mats, and this area of research is
burgeoning in the region.
The 9th paper authored by Gharbi of the Petroleum
Engineering Department of Kuwait University dis-
cusses an expert system to optimise the oil recovery
from a carbonate reservoir. This system integrates a
three-dimensional finite-difference reservoir simulator
and an EOR expert system. The system is then used to
determine optimal reservoir management and produc-
tion strategies.
The 10th paper from Kuwait University discusses
the impact of characterization methods on the prop-
erties and phase behavior of reservoir fluids. It is
shown that selection of a characterization scheme in
a reservoir simulator may have a significant impact
on the accuracy of calculated properties. Application
of a distribution model when minimum data are
available for a crude oil or reservoir fluid is also
demonstrated in this paper. The 11th and 12th
papers examine fluid properties in the Persian Gulf
Region. Al-Marhoun reports various PVT correla-
tions which have been evaluated against Middle
East crude oil data, and he makes recommendations
regarding appropriate selections. In the 12th paper,
Moshfegian et al. applies a recently developed
equation of state to the task of predicting Minimum
Miscibility Pressure (MMP). The results are com-
pared with predicted values from other equations of
state.
In the 13th paper by Roomi et al. of Kuwait
University, application of a newly designed surfactant
molecule for enhancing the flow properties of heavy/
viscous crude oils has been presented. In this paper,
the rheological behavior of heavy crude oil/aqueous
solutions of surfactant emulsions as well as heavy
crude oil/surfactant emulsions have been investigated
using a programmable viscometer.
In the 14th paper, a new intermittent gas-lift
simulator is developed. This simulator considers the
78
temperature differences between the injected and
produced fluids. The model then is used to study the
Aghajari oil field. Finally, in the last, 15th, paper, an
experimental study of the wettability characteristics of
carbonate rock samples from Iranian formations is
reported.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our appreciation to the
authors for their contributions to this special issue.
We also would like to express our sincere thanks to
the reviewers of papers in this issue who are the
leading world experts in their field who, despite
their heavy schedules, enthusiastically participated
in the review process. Their suggestions and
criticisms greatly enhanced the quality of this issue.
We would like to thank particularly Paul Adair
(BP), David Tiffin (BP), Alfred W. Eustes (Colo-
rado School of Mines), Ergun Kuru (University of
Alberta), Frederik P. Agterberg (Geological Survey
of Canada ), L.J. Drew (U.S. Geological Survey),
Abbas Firoozabadi (Yale University), Turgay Erte-
kin (Pennsylvania State University), Brian F. Towler
(University of Wyoming), Jill Buckley (New
Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology),
Ibrahim Kocabas (UAE University), Phillipe Baldy
(Total FinaElf), Colin Swaine (BP), S.M. Farouq
Ali (PERL Canada), R. Gharbi (Kuwait University),
S.T. Lee (BP), Khaled Aziz (Stanford University),
Vijay Pothapragada (BP), A.Y. Dandekar (Univer-
sity of Alaska), Djebbar Tiab (University of
Editorial
Oklahoma), Faruk Civan (University of Oklahoma),
A.K.M. Jamaluddin (Schlumberger), Mehran Poola-
di (U. Calgary), Harvey Yarranton (U. Calgary),
Henry Nickens (BP) and Malcolm Greaves (Uni-
versity of Bath). We also would like to thank Tirza
van Daalen and Linda Versteeg of Elsevier for their
help and encouragement to complete this special
issue.
M.R. Riazi
Chemical Engineering Department,
Kuwait University,
P.O. Box 5969,
Safat 13060, Kuwait
E-mail address: Riazi@kuc01.kuniv.edu.kw
R.C. Merrill
BP Kuwait, Ltd.,
P.O. Box 29335,
Safat 13039, Kuwait
E-mail address: merrilrc@bp.com
G.A. Mansoori *
Chemical Engineering Department,
College of Engineering, University of Illinois,
810 S. Clinton Street
Chicago, IL 60607-7000, USA
E-mail address: mansoori@uic.edu
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-312-996-5592; fax: +1-312-
996-0808.
 Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 55 (2007) 1 – 5
Editorial
An update on the developments in petroleum production research in
the Middle East
The Middle East countries: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq,
Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United
Arab Emirate (UAE) (see Figs. 1 and 2) have nearly 60%
of world proved oil reserves and 40% of world natural
gas reserves. Some estimates even give a higher number
for the Middle East share of proven hydrocarbon reser-
voirs. However the rate of oil production in this region is
about a third of the total world production. In recent
years due to an increase in oil consumption by China and
India the demand on crude oil and natural gas have risen
sharply and the price of crude oil reached to an unpre-
cedented value of more than $ 78 per barrel in July 2006.
Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the
United States Government's Department of Energy
(DOE) gives the latest statistical data on proven oil and
natural gas reserves around the world (Energy Informa-
tion Administration (EIA), 2006). This data is gathered
from various sources including BP, Oil and Gas Review
and World Oil at its website (Energy Information Admi-
nistration (EIA), 2006) as posted on January 18, 2006.
As of January 1, 2006 the world proved oil reserves is
estimated to be about 1,082 to 1,293 billion barrels while
the gas proved reserves estimates are in the range of
6,112 to 7,000 trillion cubic feet. For the Middle East, the
proven petroleum reserves are in the range of 708 to 743
billion barrels and the natural gas reserves are in the
range of 2,542 to 2,590 trillion cubic feet.
According to the World Oil Report, in the year 2004
the world petroleum consumption grew 3.4% over 2003
to 71.7 million barrels per day. Not surprisingly,
1.55 million bpd of the 2.335 million bpd added last
year came from the Middle East. In 2004 production of
conventional petroleum from North America had a dec-
line of 5.5% with respect to the previous year. In the same
period the Middle East production was up 7.4% to
22.5 million barrels per day (World Oil Magazine, 2005).
The Middle East crude oil production in 2004 was 31%
0920-4105/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2006.04.009
www.elsevier.com/locate/petrol
of total world production. This share will be significantly
higher by 2020. World rate of production of natural gas
in 2004 was about 2.4 trillion cubic feet and for the
Middle East was 280 billion cubic feet or about 12% of
world production rate (United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD)). Many analysts
predict that the world production peak occurs sometime
between 2010 and 2020 when the production rate will
begin to fall in most oil producing countries. By that time
the share of Middle East proven reservoirs as well as the
rate of production will be even higher than today's
shares.
Kuwait has just over 100 billion barrels of proven oil
reserves, or roughly 8% of the world's total oil reserves.
Currently, the country relies on oil revenues for around
90–95% of total export earnings and around two-fifths of
the gross domestic product (GDP). About 65% of the
Kuwait population is under the age of 25 and creating job
for Kuwaitis is a major challenge for the Government.
With increase in global demand on crude oil and the need
for the revenues, the Kuwaiti government is currently
making an attempt to enact legislation to facilitate fo-
reign investment in the upstream oil sector, as part of its
“Project Kuwait” initiative to boost production capacity
(Energy Information Administration (EIA), 2005).
Kuwait continues to plan for significant expansion in
its production capacity. Kuwait hopes to reach a
capacity of 4 million bbl/d by 2020, up from around
2.5 million bbl/d at present. As part of this plan, known
as “Project Kuwait,” Kuwait is considering permitting
foreign oil companies to invest in upstream production.
“Project Kuwait” is a $8.5 billion, 25-year plan that was
first formulated in 1997. This project has attracted major
international oil companies to Kuwait for development
of new oilfields in the northern part of Kuwait. Accor-
ding to Arab Times Daily Newspaper (Arab Times,
2005), the parliament of Kuwait is about to debate on
2 Editorial

The Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

devoted a special issue on “Production Research in the
Middle East” that was published in April 2004 as Issues
2–4 of Volume 42 (Riazi et al., 2004). This current issue
is in fact an update to the first issue and can be con-
sidered as the second issue on “The Developments in
Petroleum Production Research in the Middle East”.
Seventeen papers presented in this issue can be divi-
ded into six categories as:

1. Reservoir Study (2 papers)

2. Production (6 papers)
3. Field Processing (5 papers)
4. Storage and Transportation (2 papers)
5. Safety (1 paper)
6. Management (1 paper)

Category I— Reservoir Study:

Fig. 1. Satellite view of the Middle East.
this controversial project. On this policy in recent years,
the Ministry of Energy of the Government of Kuwait
and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) have
sponsored various conferences to gather experts from
both academia and major petroleum companies for
presentation of latest technological advancements in oil
production and related industries. Most papers appear-
ing in this issue are from researchers who participated in
the Kuwait International Oil and Gas Conference that
was held during March 7–9, 2005.
1. Fracture study of a horizontal well in a tight
reservoir—Kuwait.
By: S. I. Ozkaya, H. J. Lewandoswki and S. B.
Coskun
2. Characteristics of high permeability zones using
core analysis, and production logging data.
By: A. M. Al-Dhafeeri and H. A. Nasr-El-Din
Category II— Production:
3. Supercritical fluid extraction for the determination
of optimum oil recovery.
By: A. H. Al-Marzouqi, A. Y. Zekri and B. Jobe

Fig. 2. Map of the giant oil and gas fields in the Middle East (Horn, 2004).
 Editorial
4. Water scaling case studies in a Kuwaiti oil field.
By: M. Salman, H. Qabazard, and M. Moshfeghian
5. Viscoelastic properties of a high temperature
cross-linked water shut-off polymeric gel.
By: G. A. Al-Muntasheri, I. A. Hussein, H. A.
Nasr-El-Din and M. B. Amin
6. Huff 'n puff to revaporize liquid dropout in Saih
Rawl Field, Oman.
By: M. Al-Wadhahi, F. H. Boukadi, A. Al-
Bemani, R. Al-Maamari, and H. Al-Hadrami
7. Laboratory investigation of thermally-assisted
gas–oil gravity drainage for secondary and
tertiary oil recovery in fractured models.
By: M. Nabipour, M. Escrochi, S. Ayatollahi, F.
Boukadi, M. Wadhahi, R. Maamari and A.
Bemani
8. Analysis of wellbore instability in vertical,
directional, and horizontal wells using field data.
By: M. A. Mohiuddin, K. Khan, A. Abdulraheem,
A. Al-Majed, and M. R. Awal
Category III— Oil and Gas Field Processing:
9. Sulfate removal technologies for oil fields
seawater injection operations.
By: M. S. H. Bader
10. Microbial treatment of waxy crude oils for
mitigation of wax precipitation.
By: A. Etoumi
11. Gas solubility of H2S and CO2 in aqueous
solutions of N-methyldiethanolamine.
By: P. J. G. Huttenhuis, N. J. Agrawal, J. A.
Hogendoorn and G. F. Versteeg
12. The removal of carbon dioxide with activated
solutions of methyl-diethanol-amine.
By: S. van Loo, E. P. van Elk, G. F. Versteeg
13. Electro-hydrodynamic separation of aqueous
drops from flowing viscous oil.
By: J. S. Eow, M. Ghadiri and A. O. Sharif.
Category IV— Storage and Transportation:
14. Non-Newtonian liquid flow through small diam-
eter piping components.
By: T. K. Bandyopadhyay and S. K. Das
15. Water requirement in tank farm fire.
By: Nitesh Jain and J. P. Gupta
Category: V— Safety and Security:
16. Securing oil and gas infrastructure.
By: S. Bajpai and J. P. Gupta
3
Category VI— Management:
17. Improved operations through manpower manage-
ment in the oil sector.z
By: H. Ahmed
The unique feature of this special issue is that it
presents papers in various areas of petroleum produc-
tion, reservoir study, field processing, safety, storage
and transportation as well as management of a
company in petroleum production in the Middle East.
There are two papers related to reservoir behavior
and studies. In the paper by Ozkaya et al. a study
of production history through vertical and horizontal
wells was used to determine the production behavior
for high oil viscosity and low permeability fractured
reservoir in Mishref Formation located in south of
Kuwait. In this report the authors have developed a
strategy to utilize fractures for the production.
The other article that is related to reservoir
characterization and behavior is presented by Al-
Dhafeeri and Nasr-El-Din of Aramco in Dhahran. In
this paper the authors have identified and character-
ized the high permeability zones of three wells in the
Ghawar field carbonate reservoir in Saudi Arabia
using core data and production logging.
In Category II, six papers are presented which are
mainly related to various aspects of production in dif-
ferent Middle East fields. The first in this category is a
paper by a group of researchers at UAE University who
conducted a laboratory study investigating the capacity
of CO2 to extract hydrocarbons from an oil-saturated
soil under a wide range of pressures and temperatures.
The soil samples were collected from Sahel oil filed,
which is near Bu Hasa oil field in Abu Dhabi, UAE,
where the crude oil was obtained. Based on the
laboratory studies by the authors it was found that the
extraction efficiency of CO2 increased with pressure
and decreased with temperature. Moreover, the amount
of extracted heavy fractions increased with pressure for
all temperatures. The maximum extraction efficiency of
CO2 was 72.4%, which was obtained at the highest
pressure (300 bar) and a temperature of 100 °C.
The second paper in this category by Salman et al of
KISR in Kuwait presents a computer scaling study on
the effluent waters from four Gathering Centers of an
oil field in the State of Kuwait. The scaling results for
the commingling of individual effluent waters with
formation water at reservoir temperatures and pressures
are presented. In order to determine scaling tendency,
several case studies were investigated. Attention was
made on the scaling tendency of CaCO3 and BaSO4 for
4 Editorial
various mixing proportions of effluent water with
formation water. It was found that commingling of the
effluent water and formation water can lead to calcium
carbonate and barium sulfate scaling above 50%
effluent water.
The next paper (fifth in the series) investigates the
viscoelastic properties of an organically cross-linked
polymeric gel used in water shut-off treatments. The
effect of various parameters on the gel elastic and viscous
modulo was determined through experimentation. The
fourth paper in Category II, a technique is used as a
production mechanism to revaporize liquid dropout in a
retrograde condensate gas field in Oman. The method
was then confirmed by a simulation study. The seventh
paper presents experimental studies to enhance the oil
recovery efficiency in which the mechanism of thermal-
ly-assisted gas–oil gravity drainage for secondary and
tertiary oil recovery was investigated on a fractured
laboratory model. The last paper in the category of pro-
duction is presented by Mohiudin et al. of Saudi Arabia
and a method is presented to analyze well bore instability
using field-based drilling parameters such as the initial
mud weight.
In Category III five papers are presented that are
mainly related to oil and gas production field processes.
Seawater injection is used as means of maintaining
pressure in oil fields. In the first paper of this group, a
technique is presented that can be used to remove sulfate
from seawater to prevent problems such as scaling,
reservoir souring and adherence of radioactive species.
In another paper by a researcher at the Libyan Petroleum
Research Center at Tripoli, microbial treatment is studied
as a potential method to help alleviate the problem of
wax precipitation. The experimental results showed that
after the microbial treatment the wax appearance tem-
perature and the viscosity of crude oil were reduced.
There are two papers in this category prepared by two
industrial research groups in the Netherlands to deal with
removal of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide from
natural gases. Alkanolamine processes are used in the
industry to remove acid gases, like CO2, H2S and other
sulfur components, from natural gas and industrial gas
streams. In a paper by Huttenhuis et al. experimentally
measured solubility of these gases in alkanolamine solu-
tion are reported. Such data are useful in design and
operation of gas treating units at the production fields. In
another paper by van Loo et al., mixtures of MDEA with
several activators were studied with respect to the per-
formance of CO2 removal from natural gases. They have
performed simulation of a selective separation process for
acid gas removal from natural or associated gases. Finally
in the last paper of this category it is shown how a compact
electro-coalescer-separator that has been developed re-
cently, can be used to produce good separation efficiency
for the system of aqueous drops dispersed in flowing
viscous oil for separation of oil and water. Results shown
in this paper can be used in separation processes at the
production field or transportation of crude oil.
In Category IV the first paper by S. K. Das of the
University of Calcutta (India) presents experimental
investigation of non-Newtonian liquid flow in various
piping components and correlations for calculation of
frictional losses. Such information is needed in the
design and operation of transportation equipment and
flow measuring devices for viscous oils and polymeric
solutions. The second paper in this category by J. P.
Gupta of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at
Kanpur deals with the protection of an adjoining tank
from a tank on fire by the use of water-spray system. In
this interesting paper a simple method is presented to
determine the amount of water required to prevent any
serious temperature rise in the adjoining tank.
In Category V another interesting paper by S. Bajpai
and J. P. Gupta of IIT-Kanpur is presented that deals with
security at the oil and gas industry and related instal-
lations when they are attacked by terrorists. It is recog-
nised that all existing safety tools are of help in dealing
with this emergency. However they should be modified
in light of process security. In this paper, the authors will
examine the areas of security concern for oil and gas
infrastructure and what steps can be taken to make them
more secure.
Category VI is the last category of papers in this issue
and is devoted to a paper on manpower management in a
major oil company in order to obtain economic efficien-
cies and it is written by the planning department of
Aramco an oil company in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. We
certainly hope that papers presented in this issue will be
beneficial to those involved in various sectors of petro-
leum upstream industry particularly those who are
involved with petroleum production in the Middle East
and North Africa.
We would like to express our appreciation to the
authors for their contributions to this special issue. We
also would like to express our sincere thanks to the 50
reviewers from the academia and industry from various
countries including: United States: 16; Canada: 3; Brazil:
1; United Kingdom: 4; France: 2; Germany: 1; Norway:
4; Netherlands: 2; Portugal: 1; Hungary: 1; Poland: 1;
South Africa: 1; Middle East: 4; India: 2; Malaysia: 1;
China: 1 and Japan: 1. These reviewers who are the
leading world experts in their field, despite their heavy
schedules, enthusiastically participated in the review
process for the papers submitted for this issue. Their
 Editorial 5

suggestions and criticisms greatly enhanced the quality Switzerland, Website: bhttp://r0.unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/gas/
of this issue and much credit for the quality of this issue market.htmN.
World Oil Magazine, OUTLOOK 2005: International Worldwide
goes to these devoted reviewers. We also would like to Production, Special Focus, Vol. 226, No. 2, February 2005.
thank Tonny Smit, Kim-Lan Thonus and Friso Veenstra, Worldoil.com, Website:bhttp://www.worldoil.com/magazine/
of Elsevier Science for their help and encouragement in MAGAZINE_DETAIL.asp?ART_ID=2497N.
the completion of this issue.
M.R. Riazi*
Amir A. Al-Haddad
References Department of Chemical Engineering,
Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969,
Arab Times, 2005. A Daily Newspaper, p. 8. Arab Times, Kuwait,
October 17.
Safat 13060— Kuwait
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Washington, D.C., U.S. Official Energy Statistics from U.S. *Corresponding author. Tel.: +965 4811188x5772;
Government, Information posted on June, 2005 in the Website: fax: +965 4811772.
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