International agreements and national policies on environmental sustainability are changing the outlook for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) globally. These changes are highlighted by both monetary and intellectual commitments by oil companies around the world.
Saudi Aramco has pledged $1.5 billion toward sustainable technology. In practice, members of Aramco’s EXPEC Advanced Research Center have collaborated with King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals to develop sustainable surfactants for use in high-temperature, high-pressure, and high-salinity carbonate reservoirs. They used no or only green solvents to produce soluble, stable surfactants with the potential for biodegradability.
In Colombia, Ecopetrol is committed to reducing CO2 emission by 25% by 2030. As part of its efforts, it has been optimizing polymer injection in Chichimene, a heavy-oil field. By estimating life cycle greenhouse-gas emissions and energy consumption, it was able to show that polymer injection and its associated carbon intensity reduction could prevent the emission of 3,200 tons CO2 equivalent.
To comply with the UK’s North Sea Transition Deal, which mandates a 50% reduction in offshore oil and gas emissions by 2030, Ithaca Energy and Energy Research Norway is using life-cycle assessment to guide more efficient heavy-oil recovery. By using low-dose polymer injection, instead of alternatives such as thermal EOR, it was able to increase exergy while also reducing CO2 emissions by 35%.
In these studies, we already see the effect of the energy transition as companies turn away from traditionally effective but environmentally burdensome EOR methods such as steam injection and new polymers that show equal, if not greater, effectiveness with a reduced environmental cost. As we move forward with further regulation and innovation, it will be interesting to see how emerging technological developments in polymers, nanofluids, and even artificial intelligence can help producers meet both the economic and environmental criteria to maintain profitable fields.
This Month’s Technical Papers
Locally Produced Sustainable and Resilient Surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery
Polymer-Injection Pilot in Colombian Field Indicates Reduced Carbon Footprint
Polymer Flooding Reduces Emissions and Energy Consumption in the North Sea
Recommended Additional Reading
SPE 218653 Coinjection EOR Technology Increases Recovery and Reduces Greenhouse-Gas Emissions by G. Wasylchuk, GERI
SPE 218690 Steam Generation Using Renewables Energy—An Integrated Approach for Enhanced Oil Recovery Applications by Mustafa Al Ajmi, Petroleum Development Oman, et al.
SPE 218962 Reaching a Million Barrels in an Abu Dhabi Field by Focusing on Operations Efficiency by Masud J. Akhtar, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, et al.
Elizabeth Barsotti, SPE, is a career development fellow in the Neurobiology Division at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology; a visiting scientist in the Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge; and an affiliated postdoc at Clare Hall College at the University of Cambridge. She holds a PhD degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Wyoming, where she investigated fluid phase behavior and interfacial phenomena in ultratight reservoirs. Barsotti’s expertise includes unconventionals, enhanced oil recovery, and carbon capture and storage. She serves as an associate editor for SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering and on the JPT Editorial Review Board.