Dear Applicants and Prospective Speakers!

The Program Committee of the Kazakhstan EOR Forum, in cooperation with the Scientific and Technical Council of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Central Commission for Hydrocarbon Exploration and Field Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is shifting the Forum’s focus from broad theoretical discussion toward building an applied portfolio of technology solutions for Kazakhstan’s mature oil fields.

All submissions will undergo peer review and expert technical evaluation. Priority for inclusion in the Forum program will be given to presentations that propose specific scientific and engineering solutions addressing current technical challenges and R&D priorities of Kazakhstan’s enhanced oil recovery (EOR) sector.

The Program Committee recommends that presentation materials focus on the following key areas:

I. Priority EOR Technologies:

1. Polymer and chemical flooding technologies (AP, SP, ASP, P, S, and other chemical formulations):

• Results from pilot, field-scale demonstration, and full-field deployments in mature fields.
• Laboratory testing, formulation design and selection, performance evaluation, and scale-up of laboratory results to field conditions in mature reservoirs.
• Key challenges: poor waterflood performance in clastic and carbonate reservoirs, high produced-water cut, high oil viscosity, high salinity and microbiological contamination (including sulfate-reducing bacteria, SRB) of injection water, and declining performance.

2. Gas EOR (CO₂, N₂, hydrocarbon gas, WAG, SWAG, etc.).

3. Thermal EOR methods (steam injection, hot-water injection, SAGD, VAPEX, cyclic steam stimulation (CSS), in-situ combustion (ISC), etc.).

• Key challenge: declining steam injection efficiency.

4. Hybrid and combined EOR methods.

II. Well Engineering, Well Stock Revitalization, and Production Enhancement.

• Horizontal wells and sidetracking: design, drilling, and completion of horizontal and multilateral wells at late stages of field development to access undrained reservoir volumes; development of hard-to-recover reserves and bypassed zones through horizontal sidetracks from existing well stock.
• Commingled and selective production and injection: deployment of selective production and injection systems as core tools for optimizing multilayer reservoirs; field experience with intelligent downhole completions (Smart Completions), packers, valves, and downhole fluid-phase monitoring technologies.
• Recompletion and advanced well intervention/workover technologies: application of low-damage reperforation and reservoir access techniques (shaped-charge and slot perforation, abrasive jetting) to minimize near-wellbore formation damage; advanced workover and well intervention technologies using coiled tubing; non-damaging well-kill technologies. Complex fishing and remedial operations, and mitigation of organic and inorganic deposits (paraffin/asphaltene deposits and scale) during well interventions.
• Injection profile conformance and water shutoff: selection of chemical systems for profile modification and water control; rapid diagnostics of interwell high-permeability channels; candidate area selection; and development of well-specific methodologies for calculating treatment and injection volumes.
• Production stimulation and advancement of hydraulic fracturing technologies for mature reservoirs: optimization of acidizing, conventional hydraulic fracturing, and proppant hydraulic fracturing technologies; candidate well selection, geomechanical and hydraulic fracture design, and microseismic monitoring to characterize fracture geometry and propagation.

III. Development of Unified Industry Guidelines and Standards

The Program Committee welcomes presentations aimed at systematizing technical approaches and developing industry-wide guidelines in the following areas:

• EOR screening guidelines: applicability criteria for gas, thermal, physical, chemical, and hybrid EOR methods, taking into account the specific characteristics of Kazakhstan’s mature fields.
• Guidelines for evaluating EOR and production enhancement performance: standardization of incremental production calculations for EOR and production enhancement projects.
• Laboratory testing guidelines: standardization of testing procedures and field qualification of EOR agents (alkalis, surfactants, polymers, co-solvents, acids, gels, and gases), with methodologies designed to eliminate laboratory artifacts.
• EOR modeling guidelines: standardized approaches to numerical simulation of EOR processes and history matching reservoir models.
• Field monitoring guidelines: requirements for surveillance programs, including pressure transient testing, production logging and other well logging methods, tracer studies, specialized field diagnostics, downhole completions, advanced production and injectivity measurement tools, and monitoring of chemical breakthrough and returns.

IV. Digital Field Development and Intelligent Technologies

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML): application of AI algorithms for rapid screening of candidate wells for hydraulic fracturing, acid stimulation, and injection profile conformance treatments; use of neural-network models to identify hidden injector–producer connectivity, rapidly forecast water breakthrough, and optimize well operating conditions through analysis of large-scale field datasets (Big Data).
• Digital Rock Physics: results from micro-CT imaging and direct numerical simulation of multiphase flow at the pore scale; evaluation of changes in relative permeability and oil displacement efficiency associated with advanced EOR agents (polymers, surfactants, and CO₂) in virtual pore-space models to reduce uncertainty before conducting physical coreflood experiments.
• Digital Twins for field development: experience in developing and operating continuously updated geological and reservoir simulation models and integrated asset models that connect the reservoir, wells, and surface facilities within a unified modeling environment; automated history-matching methodologies and near-real-time model updating to support EOR project operations and decision-making.
• Automated production management and predictive analytics: implementation of Smart Waterflooding systems and automated control of chemical injection allocation; development and integration of predictive analytics models for condition monitoring of artificial-lift equipment and pressure maintenance systems, and for preventing operational failures associated with solids production or accelerated scale formation during EOR implementation.
• Identification and targeting of remaining recoverable reserves: advanced algorithms for calculating and mapping current oil-saturated thickness, identifying bypassed and unswept zones (remaining oil) at late stages of mature reservoir depletion; practical case studies integrating reservoir engineering methods, geophysical surveillance (including saturation monitoring logs), and interwell tracer testing to optimize placement of new horizontal wells and sidetracks.

V. Systemic and Regulatory Enablers

• Projects and proposals for localizing the production of EOR chemicals and specialized equipment in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
• Practical case studies on oilfield digitalization and implementation of intelligent EOR management systems in mature fields.
• Analysis of international practices and development of recommendations for tax and non-tax incentives for marginal EOR projects in Kazakhstan’s mature fields and reservoirs containing hard-to-recover reserves.
• Decarbonization, Net Zero strategies, CCUS projects, and carbon credits in the context of EOR.

Important Note for Speakers:

·         Flexible originality requirements: submissions are not required to be entirely new or previously unpublished. Papers and presentations previously delivered or published at other industry events and platforms are eligible for consideration.

·         Selection criteria: the Program Committee’s primary requirements are strong technical relevance, depth of engineering insight, and practical value of the proposed solutions for Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry, particularly their potential to increase and sustain production from mature and depleted fields.

·         Publication of Forum materials: following the technical sessions and roundtable discussions, an official Forum Proceedings volume comprising scientific and technical abstracts and papers will be compiled and published.

Sincerely,

The Program Committee.