ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY (EOR) AS A STEPPING STONE TO CARBON CAPTURE AND SEQUESTRATION (CCS)

摘要

Fossil fuels promise continuous domination of the global energy mix with mounting carbon emissions and climate threat for decades to come. While the growth of enhanced oil recovery that utilizes CO_2 (CO2-EOR), especially in the US, has been curbed primarily because of limits on accessibility to affordable supplies of CO2. Environmental concerns about carbon emissions coupled with the oil industry’s need to secure additional CO_2 for EOR has sparked interest in the potential CO2-EOR may have in jumpstarting carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). We build on the limited previous work by combining robust engineering and economic policy aspects to investigate the practicality of wide scale implementation of CCS when partnered with CO2-EOR also focusing on the transition from CO2-EOR to solely carbon sequestration on a single field level.We develop a unique two-stage dynamic optimization model that tracks total carbon movements during the CO2-EOR process and continued sequestration after oil production has ceased. Our model of a profit maximizing producer at a single field level quantifies the impacts of various oil and carbon prices on the timing of the transition from CO2-EOR to solely carbon sequestration and volumes of carbon sequestration across both stages. Total volumes of captured CO_2 sequestered across both stages is on the order of a hundred thousand tonnes, which is equivalent to 30% to 40% of the emissions from the use of the oil produced as part of the project, resulting in lower emissions level relative to pre-policy implementation levels. Our results show that policies that would promote this transition could enhance profits to producers while benefiting the global community.