Insights into the energy efficiency and environmental performance of the extraction of heavy oil from the Captain field in the UK sector of the North Sea are gained using life-cycle assessment (LCA), which incorporates the concept of exergy-return-on-exergy-investment (ERoEI). The LCA allows for separation of the process into material and work streams, assessing the effect of each separately. In the complete paper, the authors compare waterflooding (WF) to polymer flooding (PF) as primary extraction strategies.
Introduction
The Captain field is approximately 145 km northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland. The reservoirs lie at shallow depths of approximately 900 m true vertical depth with correspondingly low temperatures of 31°C and low pressures of 87 bar. A primary challenge is the relatively viscous oil of 40–140 cp.
