Moving CO_2 EOR offshore requires higher prices: Technically it's possible. Economically it needs to make sense

摘要

The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), an important domestic petroleum province, accounts for about 20% of total domestic crude oil production. Since reaching a peak of 1.54 MMbbl/d in 2003, OCS oil production has declined to 1.23 MMbbl/d as of mid-2013. While there is optimism that new discoveries in the deep and ultradeep waters of the OCS will reverse this decline, another option seems to offer even more promise - the application of CO_2 EOR. Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the U.S. Department of Interior's (DOI's) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has statutory authority to permit the use of CO_2 EOR on existing oil and gas leases on the OCS.