Kuwait Oil Company announced the use of a new technique to extract heavy crude from complex oil reservoirs, Zawya reports.

The new technique requires the injections of chemicals instead of the more typical water-based fracking fluid. This technique, utilized in China, is new to the Middle East, The National reports.

A former vice president at Saudi Aramco and current energy analyst, Sadad El Husseini, explained that the “[c]hemical injection of surfactants is often used for heavy oil extraction or for low-permeability reservoirs.” He added, “[i]t is a costly enhanced oil recovery and extraction process and sometimes used where conventional production enhancement such as fracking and acid stimulation are not sufficient to yield commercial results,” according to Zawya.