Technology Focus: CO2 Applications (July 2009)

Technology Focus Can enhanced oil recovery (EOR) contribute to CO2 abatement as part of a climate-change-mitigation program? EOR by use of CO2 is an important technique for increasing oil recovery. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be an increasingly important technique for reducing atmospheric emissions of CO2 as part of a climate-change-mitigation program. What role does EOR have in reducing CO2 emissions to the atmosphere and in supporting climate-change mitigation? It is clear that the two processes have very different objectives: EOR focuses on maximizing the amount of oil recovered, whereas CCS focuses on sequestration of CO2 for the long term. Most existing EOR projects use naturally occurring CO2, produced from subsurface traps especially for EOR. Rather than mitigating emissions, these projects contribute to global CO2 emissions. Clearly, this situation is not good for the climate. Other emerging EOR projects and future projects could use anthropogenic CO2 (i.e., CO2 from industrial sources). When the CO2 associated with the use of the EOR oil is taken into account along with the processing and emissions from CO2 recycling, EOR is a significant producer of greenhouse gas and not a CO2-abatement technique. However, EOR oil does have a lower emissions intensity than non-EOR oil, assuming that the CO2 is from anthropogenic sources. It would be much better, for example, to produce a barrel of EOR oil than a barrel of oil from oil sands. EOR has an important role to play in energy security, but from a global-climate perspective, it is not a CO2-abatement technique. CO2 Applications additional reading available at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org SPE 116661 • "Optimizing Injection Intervals in Vertical and Horizontal Wells for CO2 Sequestration" by Navanit Kumar, SPE, University of Texas at Austin, et al. SPE 119747 • "Thermodynamic Criteria and Final Results of WAG CO2 Injection in a Pilot Project in Croatia" by D. Novosel, INA-Naftaplin SPE 114553 • "Produced CO2 Storage Into Aquifer in an Offshore Field, Malaysia" by Dewanto Odeara Kartikasurja, SPE, Senergy Ltd.