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27/07/2015 Press release

Total Research Centre Goes on Innovating

TRC‐Q (Total Research Center –Qatar) has recently filed two new patents, showing that scientific and technological innovation is of paramount importance for Total.

At a worldwide level, 60 percent of oil and 40 percent of gas reserves are located in carbonate reservoirs. Moreover, during the past decade, two thirds of the giant discoveries were made in carbonates. And all of Qatar’s currently producing oil and gas reservoirs are carbonates.

This is why TRC‐Q has decided to focus its efforts on scientific and technical challenges related to carbonates, through two main research projects, Geochemistry and Acid stimulation.

The first patented innovation refers to the Geochemistry project. This is a process for production allocation of hydrocarbon fluids in carbonate reservoirs. The aim of the invention is to determine the respective  contribution  of  each  reservoir  to  the  global  production  of  a  well:  a  subject  which  is particularly key for Qatar oil and gas industry.

The second Total invention merges the skills developed in the two TRC‐Q projects, Geochemistry and Acid stimulation. This is a method for evaluating the efficiency (in terms of production) of an acid stimulation operational intervention using chemistry analytical methods on produced hydrocarbon samples. The originality of this innovation is to combine two completely different scientific and technical domains to improve and better monitor the production of carbonate reservoirs.

Dr Philippe Julien, Director of TRC‐Q, said: “The goal of a petroleum research team is always to generate new ideas, to test them on producing fields and to implement them in order that they can be used in the Oil & Gas industry. In this way, Total contributes to building a knowledgebased economy in Qatar. In our research center, we are very proud to have leading edge and innovative research projects which benefit all the oil and gas bearing carbonate reservoirs in Qatar and elsewhere in the world”.

Total, one of the largest IOC, has a long term partnership with Qatar and has established a strong expertise in Carbonates Acid Stimulation and Geochemistry in the Middle East. Through its active participation in several regional developments like Dolphin or Al Khalij in Qatar, Total has a track record in complex well acid stimulation. Since 2010, Total, in its Total Research Centre – Qatar located at the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP is an entity from the Qatar Foundation), runs various research and operational projects including in Carbonates Acid Stimulation and Geochemistry, conducting lab experiments, interpretations and modeling, dedicated to the Qatar oil and gas industry challenges.