In early March, the EU MIRECOL project (Mitigation and Remediation of CO2 Leakage) has entered the third and final year of its completion. Within a vast European consortium involving European research institutions based in the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Norway and Germany and renowned oil and gas companies (Shell, Statoil, Weatherford - PRORES AS), this project is being delivered, from its inception, with the participation of the colleagues from NIS and Scientific-technological centre (STC), and in compliance with the project activities schedule, the project team will soon be joined by the colleagues from the “Naftagas-Oilfield Services”.
Common knowledge suggests that the experience gained by the NIS Company while controlling an unwanted CO2 migration in Bečej gas field is unique in the world, which makes it invaluable not only for the outcome of the EU MIRECOL project, but for the European and world scientific community at largeInternational Experience Exchange Over the course of the initial two years into the project the colleagues from STC had an opportunity to exchange experience concerning remediation of unwanted leakage CO2 in geological deposits with a multitude of European researchers. The 8th Trondheim Conference on CO2 Capture, Transport and Storage provided NIS with an opportunity to share with Europe’s scientific community its unparalleled experience in remediation of unwanted migration CO2 in Bečej gas field. At the conference held in Norway we demonstrated the results of the pooled scientific efforts made by our STC colleagues and their Dutch counterparts from the TNO scientific research institute (the leader of EU “MIRECOL” PROJECT) with the topic “First field example of remediation of unwanted migration from a natural CO2 reservoir: the Bečej field, Serbia”. Following its presentation at the Trondheim conference, the scientific findings of our STC colleagues was published in the February issue of the “Energy Procedia”, a European professional power generation magazine (the article co-authored by our colleagues is available at our company portal). Common knowledge suggests that the experience gained by the NIS Company while controlling an unwanted CO2 migration in Bečej gas field is unique in the world, which makes it invaluable not only for the outcome of the EU MIRECOL project, but for the European and world scientific community at large. The Trondheim conference was introduced to the Bečej field static model that STC experts developed as part of the MIRECOL project, which demonstrated the successful application of the remediation at the Bečej field in 2007. The experience gained in remediation of CO2 leakage in Bečej gas field, which NIS addressed with great success, along with another two scientific papers elaborating the present status of the MIRECOL project deliverables, was presented to academic of highest repute in a conference focusing on CCS (carbon capture and storage) in Europe. STC Expertise Confirmed The topic of carbon-dioxide capture, transportation and storage has been in the limelight of Europe’s scientific community. The testament to this is a growing number of competitions within the programmes and European Union funds for financing projects that are to come up with and develop new sophisticated and advanced technologies for tackling the growing CO2 emission problem. Along these lines, the fact that the STC experts work has been selected for the participation at Europe’s most prominent conference focusing on this issue is an affirmation of a pivotal contribution and high quality performance demonstrated so far in this project by our company experts, which, further on will put NIS on the European map of companies that design and develop new technologies and generate new knowledge using the state-of-the-art technological accomplishments in one of the pivotal research areas, as well as the transfer knowledge and technologies and raising the professional level of staff in NIS and STC NIS Naftagas”. MIRECOL project is funded by a European Union grant within the FP7 programme (Seventh Framework Programme), a principal instrument for the implementation of EU science and research policy in 2007-2013. The project owner in NIS is Energy Block, and the project delivery is a combined effort of STC, “Naftagas-Oilfield Services” and “Exploration and Production”, with a quotidian facilitation provided by the Function for External Relations and Liaisons with State Agencies, which makes possible our company’s participation in European Union projects. Igor Korać, Deputy Director of Energy Block: - The NIS’ participation in the MIRECOL project is significant in many ways. First and foremost it brought about new knowledge and operative ways to respond in the event of CO2 leakage in (deposits) storage and wells. The hard-won experience at the CО2 deposit in Bečej and a decades-long gas leakage have ranked NIS amongst the globally renowned operators dealing with CО2, who have been successful in tackling this problem. The successfully completed 2007 remediation of the leakage is globally unsurpassed. This feat provided our company with a great authority that earned it a participation in the European Union Project on a par with all other partners involved. New data, new techniques and technologies generated over the course of the delivery of this project will provide NIS with a capacity to promptly and efficiently act in an event of any future leakage, whereby CO2 is the predominant gas in exploitation, and such deposits are a plenty in our operations. Dušan Karas, Project Manager za NIRR: - The MIRECOL project has been scrutinising the best and most prominent cases of oil and gas industry remediation of leakage in wells and new materials and technologies intended for the remediation of leakage in wells. Other than being an image booster for NIS, the participation in this project is of tremendous importance as it put NIS on the European map of companies that design and develop new technologies and generate new knowledge using the state-of-the-art technological accomplishments in one of the pivotal research areas, as well as the transfer knowledge and technologies and raising the professional level of staff in NIS and STC NIS Naftagas.
