The first technical workshop on 'Maximizing Recovery from Reservoirs with Tar Mats: from Characterization to Production' was held in November 2008.The lively discussions during the workshop proved that tar mats are a topic very relevant to the Middle East.

This second technical workshop is planned to follow up on progress made since the first workshop and will be extended to cover Heavy Oil reservoirs which are becoming an important challenge for the region. The workshop will host keynote speakers, oral and poster presenters, that will introduce key discussion topics. Also, we plan to invite experts from North America to hold one or two short courses on “Tar Mat and Heavy Oil Characterization and Prediction” on the Sunday before the workshop.

Several major heavy oil production projects have recently taken off in the Middle East, such as projects in the Sultanate of Oman, in the neutral zone, in Kuwait, and other projects are under study in Bahrain and other countries in the region. Oil companies in the region are being confronted to very specific challenges of producing heavy oil from carbonate reservoirs, often naturally fractured. Considerable amounts of heavy oil can also be associated to tar mats in some reservoirs creating additional challenges regarding recovery strategies, well placement and real-time measurements. The workshop will cover interesting reservoir development case studies, more fundamental aspects such as the origin of tar mats and heavy oil, and very practical aspects such as tar mat and heavy oil characterization, modeling, simulation, and production strategies and technologies.