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Synopsis:Film looking at methods to enhance oil reservoir recovery by using surfactants and detergents
Shotlist:Crude oil, with some water, is trapped underground in minute pores and fissures of the reservoir rock. Initially, the natural reservoir pressure forces oil up to the production wells. When this fails it is common practise to maintain the pressure by injecting water and so continue oil extraction. However this too eventually fails and more than half of the oil still remains in the reservoir. There are several methods of further enhancing oil recovery and the film presents the research and trials which BP has carried out using surfactant (or detergent) flooding to release trapped oil. A major trial at Bothamsall in the East Midlands is shown in detail and the future possibilities of the technique examined.
