The opportunities in this country are endless, and the energy industry could probably pull the US out of its current doldrums if allowed to operate at maximum efficiency (or even a bit of increased efficiency): the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, BLM land out west; shale gas and oil; CO2 EOR; LNG exports to Mexico; the list goes on and on. So many opportunities.
Link here (regional links break early).
Natrona County is becoming something of a poster child for the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques that are bringing old well fields in Wyoming back to life.Some data points for investors:
“It’s going to be a great project in Natrona County [Wyomin],” said Ralph Schulte of Elk Petroleum, explaining it will generate upwards of 50 jobs to bring the field back into service, and five to 10 full-time positions once in general operation.
The Grieve Field lies about 50 miles west of Casper, and during its heyday in the 1960s and '70s was producing about 10,000 barrels of oil per day from some 35 wells. That production has slipped to maybe 12 barrels a day from one well, but Elk is projecting the use of CO2 injection will restore the field to its former production, if not more.
- Big three CO2 EOR companies: DNR, WLL, and Hess (?) -- see first comment below
- Break even point for CO2 EOR oil: $35/bbl
- CO2 EOR getting closer and closer to the North Dakota (DNR bought Encore).
Take a look at SSAU in Seminal Texas it may suprise you.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article on this type of recovery can be found by googling "Exxon Hawkins Texas Field". In this old field, they use air-culled nitrogen injections in their recovery method and just invested $340 million in a plant to separate the nitrogen and gas. Exxon has been very successful in this type of recovery in the Hawkins Field Unit.
ReplyDeleteFor those interested, and maybe a stand-alone post, later:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.coaltransition.org/pages/_enhanced_oil_recovery__eor_/135.php
http://www.oilandgasinvestor.com/Exploration-Production-Industry-News/ExxonMobil-Breaks-Ground-West-TX-EOR-Project_82378
www.dtu.dk/upload/institutter/kt/nyheder/.../hess_denmark-ken_kosco.pdf
sequestration.mit.edu/pdf/heinrich_et_al_MIT_paper.pdf
Hess has largest US EOR CO2 facility in US (Seminole, TX).
Yeah, looks like time for a stand-alone article on EOR CO2.
http://www.mywesttexas.com/business/oil/top_stories/article_9d96cce7-3976-597d-9f6d-0eac8500e416.html
ReplyDeleteROZ: residual oil zones.
ReplyDeleteOil left behind (stranded) after "everything" done to get the oil out, but apparently there is still significant oil that is trapped to the rock, and CO2 will release it.
This will be known as quaternary EOR.
Primary.
Secondary: water flooding
Tertiary: conventional CO2 EOR
Quaternary: going after the ROZ
look at slides 7 and slide 8 from http://co2conference.net/presentations/2010/3-4_SummaryFieldTripSlides_12-10.pdf
ReplyDeleteSlide 8 shows current production and also CO2 injection rates..
Impressive.
ReplyDeleteWow, how I wish we had an optimist / entrepreneur / thinker in the White House. Can you imagine how this country could become the energy innovator / leader for the world?
Maybe NASA, with loss of space shuttle program, could re-direct its engineers to work on US energy program.