Doubling world oil output

MIT researchers are working on some new technology that could increase the amount of oil recoverable from any given reservoir…and maybe double world oil output. Oil resides in small spaces in porous rock, not in underground "pools," so usually about two thirds of the oil remains trapped in the rock. To a certain extent, getting more ...

MIT researchers are working on some new technology that could increase the amount of oil recoverable from any given reservoir...and maybe double world oil output. Oil resides in small spaces in porous rock, not in underground "pools," so usually about two thirds of the oil remains trapped in the rock.

MIT researchers are working on some new technology that could increase the amount of oil recoverable from any given reservoir…and maybe double world oil output. Oil resides in small spaces in porous rock, not in underground "pools," so usually about two thirds of the oil remains trapped in the rock.

To a certain extent, getting more oil out of existing fields is a question of economics. Oil, which resides underground in porous rock, can be forced out by injecting water, steam, or carbon dioxide, but these methods bring added costs that limit their use. If oil prices stay consistently high, these methods will be employed more than they are now, Sears says.

But significantly increasing oil recovery will require new technologies. At the top of the list are better oil field imaging techniques, says Nafi Toksöz, an EAPS professor at MIT. Improved imaging can help oil companies find and tap areas in an oil field that have become surrounded by water, and so cut off from oil wells, he says. It can also improve the effectiveness of existing methods such as using water or steam to extract oil.

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