EOR/IOR

The lifespan of a huge, old oil field in Oklahoma is now linked to a fertilizer plant 68 miles away. Chaparral Energy is capturing 45 million ft3/D of carbon dioxide (CO2) that had previously been vented into the atmosphere in Coffeyville, Kansas, compressing it, and sending it via a pipeline.

Changing the salinity of injection water could make the difference in getting more out of existing wells.

Using low-sal water for flood can add 30% to the amount of oil that can be recovered from a reservoir. What is the theory behind it?

ExxonMobil is testing its Controlled Freeze Zone technology, a single-step cryogenic process that allows carbon dioxide (CO2) to freeze in a controlled method and then melts the CO2. After recovery of the methane, the CO2 can be sequestered or used for EOR.

Higher oil prices has created increased interest in chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) using polymers, surfactants, and alkalis. This technology poses some special challenges, especially around water treatment.

Water handling is becoming increasingly important as a technical and economic tool for improved oil recovery and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects. A global series of workshops to address these issues has been planned.

Neeraj Gupta of the Battelle Memorial Institute and Nigel Jenvey of Maersk Oil and Gas comment on technology applications for carbon emission control and enhanced oil recovery.