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Co2 Storage in Depleted Oilfields: Global Application Criteria for Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery

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Co2 Storage in Depleted Oilfields: Global Application Criteria for Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery CO2 STORAGE IN DEPLETED OILFIELDS: GLOBAL APPLICATION CRITERIA FOR CARBON DIOXIDE ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY Technical Report Report Number: 2009-12 Date: December This document has been prepared for the Executive Committee of the IEA GHG Programme. It is not a publication of the Operating Agent, International Energy Agency or its Secretariat. INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY The International Energy Agency (IEA) was established in 1974 within the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) to implement an international energy programme. The IEA fosters co-operation amongst its 26 member countries and the European Commission, and with the other countries, in order to increase energy security by improved efficiency of energy use, development of alternative energy sources and research, development and demonstration on matters of energy supply and use. This is achieved through a series of collaborative activities, organised under more than 40 Implementing Agreements. These agreements cover more than 200 individual items of research, development and demonstration. The IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme is one of these Implementing Agreements. DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme. The views and opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, its members, the International Energy Agency, the organisations listed below, nor any employee or persons acting on behalf of any of them. In addition, none of these make any warranty, express or implied, assumes any liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights, including any party’s intellectual property rights. Reference herein to any commercial product, process, service or trade name, trade mark or manufacturer does not necessarily constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation or any favouring of such products. COPYRIGHT Copyright © IEA Environmental Projects Ltd. (IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme) 2009. All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND CITATIONS This report describes research sponsored by the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme. This report was prepared by: • Advanced Resources International and Melzer Consulting. To ensure the quality and technical integrity of the research undertaken by the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEA GHG) each study is managed by an appointed IEA GHG manager. The report is also reviewed by a panel of independent technical experts before its release. The IEA GHG Manager for this report: Neil Wildgust The expert reviewers for this report: • John Wilkinson and Colleagues, ExxonMobil; • Stephen Cawley and Colleagues, BP; • Ed Steadman, EERC; • Stefan Bachu, ARC. The report should be cited in literature as follows: IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEA GHG), “CO2 Storage in Depleted Oilfields: Global Application Criteria for Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery, 2009/12, December 2009”. Further information or copies of the report can be obtained by contacting the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme at: IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, Orchard Business Centre, Stoke Orchard, Cheltenham Glos. GL52 7RZ. UK Tel: +44 1242 680753 Fax: +44 1242 680758 E-mail: [email protected] www.ieagreen.org.uk OVERVIEW: CO2 STORAGE IN DEPLETED OILFIELDS: GLOBAL APPLICATION CRITERIA FOR CO2 ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY Background to the Study The IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEA GHG) commissioned Advanced Resources International (ARI), in association with Melzer Consulting, to undertake a study of global CO2 storage potential associated with enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR). The main aim of the study was to reassess the likely future potential storage capacity for CO2 in depleted oil fields as part of EOR operations across the world. The study also aimed to identify the key technical, economic and regulatory barriers that may be preventing widespread application of CO2-EOR globally as a means of providing an early opportunity for CO2 storage. Previous IEA GHG studies estimated the global storage potential in depleted oil and gas fields as up to 1,000Gt CO2, 120Gt of which could be stored in association with CO2-EOR operations. Although therefore providing lower potential capacity than both deep saline formations and gas fields, depleted oilfields still constitute a valuable storage resource with extensive repositories of data and knowledge. Storage operations in oil fields would generally be smaller in scale compared to gas fields and aquifers, but the economic and commercial benefits of utilising CO2 for EOR could in theory provide an immediate driver for implementation of such projects, particularly in a period of high global oil prices. The stimulus of high oil process has led to the increasing development of CO2 flood operations in recent years, including at the Weyburn oil field in Canada which has extended the profitability of that field for the operator Encana. IEA GHG thus identified CO2-EOR operations as an early opportunity for CO2 storage in 2002. However despite developments like those in the Permian Basin, midcontinental and Gulf Coast USA, and at Weyburn, wide scale global development of CO2-EOR has not occurred in spite of current high oil prices. Furthermore, a majority of existing CO2-EOR schemes have not been designed with CO2 storage as an objective. The aim of this study is to understand why this early opportunity for CO2 storage has not been realised and when or if this might occur. Scope of Study The study took as its starting point, IEA GHG Report on PH3/23 undertaken in 2000 as its base line data set. The study was to assess the data within the report and determine whether there was newer data on issues, (e.g. CO2 use/bbl oil produced in EOR floods) that could be used to revise global estimates. The study also considered new available data on oil basin reserves and on finds that might also revise the original storage capacity estimation for CO2 in EOR operations globally. The study was then asked to consider: 1. Identification and characterisation of the main oil fields/basins around the world currently supporting CO2-EOR operations, and those that are planning operations for the future, having already established the feasibility of such development The study would then assess the main drivers/issues (technical, economic, social, political and regulatory) that stimulated the establishment of CO2-EOR operations in these oilfields/basins and, to what extent CO2 storage was a consideration. This activity could involve both literature reviews and direct contacts with organisations concerned and could proceed via representative case studies. 2. The study should then characterise the main oilfields/basins where CO2-EOR and/or CO2 storage was considered but not developed and assess the main issues (technical, economic, social, political and regulatory) that prevented the development of CO2-EOR operations in these oilfields/basins. Like task 1, this activity could involve both literature reviews and direct contacts with organisations concerned and could proceed via representative cases studies. 3. The study should then establish a set of criteria and a screening tool based on the key factors identified in tasks 1 and 2 that can be applied to oil fields around the world that will permit an assessment of their suitability for CO2-EOR, and associated CO2 storage, in the future. 4. The study would then go on to identify and summarise oilfields/basins that have been identified as potential candidates for CO2-EOR storage activity in the future, when conventional oil production begins to decline and apply the criteria developed in task 3 above. 5. Using the criteria determined in task 3 and information from task 4, predict the provinces in other areas of the world most likely to become suitable for CO2-EOR and storage, and reassess the potential storage capacity for CO2 as part of EOR operations. Reported storage capacity should if possible be restricted to quantities associated with CO2-EOR operations, rather than storage in fully depleted or abandoned oil fields. Note: Storage capacity should be reported, where possible, in line with the methodology recommended by the Carbon Leadership Sequestration Forum in their recent Phase II and III Task Force reports on storage capacity estimation, and also with regard to findings of the current IEA GHG study on storage capacity coefficients. For all quoted capacity estimates, information sources and underlying assumptions should be clearly stated. 6. The study should consider the impact of both CO2 price and possible distances CO2 might have to be transported, on the storage capacity estimate. Other sensitive factors to be examined include oil price versus CO2 price and the timing of storage availability, which will depend on status both for current and future fields. 7. Finally the consultant should consider whether there is the potential to deploy CO2 injection earlier in field development, rather than as a tertiary stage production activity and how this might impact on the global storage capacity and in what timeframe. Current Status of CO2-EOR CO2-EOR has been deployed extensively in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico, and a few other areas in the USA, since the mid-1980’s. Today, over 100 CO2- EOR projects produce nearly 250,000 barrels per day of incremental oil from CO2-EOR operations.
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