Second lease of life for Omani oil wells

Oil is almost never found in convenient places.

The huge oilfield of Qarn Alam is no exception.

..Here, underneath a landscape of flat sands studded with wellheads, lie more than a billion barrels-worth of oil.

..But now, the flow has diminished to a trickle; only 1,000 barrels a day, which makes Qarn Alam a disappointing under-achiever.

..”If we were to carry on producing the way we are producing, we will recover only 3% of the oil down there, but the pilot project shows that if we use steam injection we can recover 25% to 30%.”

..”These projects are very expensive,” says John Malcolm, managing director of Petroleum Development Oman.

BBC