Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2019 number 1

This paper presents the analysis of the physicochemical properties of unconventional scavenger oils of the Siberian part of the Arctic zone of Russia, which is important in view of the current trends in the development of oil and gas industry. These trends are as follows: an increase in the share of hard-to-recover reserves in the structure of the hydrocarbon resource base, complicated by geological and physical characteristics of reservoirs and special anomalous physical and chemical properties, and shift in the geography of hydrocarbon production to the eastern and Arctic regions of the country with severe climatic conditions. An approach to the study of oil properties based on the classification of hard-to-recover oils is proposed. It is illustrated by the example of the analysis of the features of different types of arctic oils difficult-to-recover in Siberia. The analysis is based on the classification of hard-to-recover oils as a result of literature data compilation. Using the world database on the physicochemical properties of oils, an analysis of the distribution of oils with anomalous properties has been conducted, taking into account increased density, viscosity, high content of sulphur, resins, asphaltenes, solid paraffins, vanadium, nickel, and increased or decreased gas saturation, etc. The oil deposits with abnormal occurrence of productive reservoir were found out. The following complicating factors were identified during their development: low-permeable and low-porous reservoirs, reservoirs with abnormally high or low temperature, reservoirs with a burial depth of more than 4500 m, and those occurring in the areas of permafrost distribution, etc. The data on more than 4.200 samples of Arctic oils were analysed, which allowed determining special physicochemical properties of hard-to-recover oils deposited in various oil and gas basins of the Arctic zone, especially of its Siberian part. The results of the investigation can be used to develop new technologies and improve the existing methods of oil production and refining under specific Arctic conditions.