Occidental's Enhanced Oil Recovery In The Permian -- March 31, 2016
In this update of the Permian,
Occidental's enhanced oil recovery was highlighted.
Some background from DrillingInfo:
In a conventional reservoir drilled with conventional methods, the
expected initial extraction rate of available hydrocarbons maybe as much
as 15% – leaving 85+% of hydrocarbons in the reservoir. Pump jacks and
initial gas injection or thermal recovery can increase that capture to
the 25-30% range. By applying EOR techniques you can extract another
10-15% of the initially available hydrocarbons.
Occidental has been a leader in CO2 flooding in the Permian basin for a number of years, and a number of other big names are involved in Permian EOR.
The Midland Reporter-Telegram reports, back in August, 2014:
Occidental
Petroleum this week held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 212,000
square foot Midland Office Complex, now under construction at 6001
Deauville as the first building in the Energy Plaza at Westridge Park.
From an interview reported by that outlet:
Q: Occidental recently spun off its California business, saying it
can now focus more on its Texas operations as well as the Middle East
and Colombia. What exactly does this mean for Occidental’s Permian
Basin operations?
A: Occidental Petroleum plans to spin off its wholly
owned subsidiary, California Resources Corporation, in the fourth
quarter of 2014.
The Permian Basin is home to our principal asset,
where we have been operating and producing for more than 30 years.
Occidental has more than 5 million gross acres with over 12,000
Oxy-operated gross oil and gas wells in the Permian Basin, and we
produce from every producible formation here.
Occidental is also the largest operator and
largest producer of oil in the Permian Basin thanks to our successful
EOR business and continued focus on our unconventional development,
which is well positioned to deliver long-term growth.
Q: What unconventional plays in the Permian Basin is Occidental active in and what emerging plays is the company looking at?
A: We are active at South Curtis Ranch in the
Midland Basin, in the Delaware Basin, and in the Wolfcamp A and B
benches. We are also transitioning to accelerated development in Barilla
Draw.
Q: Occidental has long been one of the Permian Basin’s leading
producers and a major operator of tertiary recovery projects. How have
the recent shale plays in this region affected those CO2 projects, or
have they?
A: Occidental’s recent shale plays have not impacted
our CO2 operations. We believe our enhanced oil recovery (EOR) from CO2
will be an ongoing source of cash generation for our unconventional
drilling operations. We are applying more than 30 years of experience in
CO2 EOR in the Permian Basin in support of our unconventional
opportunities. This is a significant competitive advantage for
Occidental in our Permian production.
In 2013, Oxy injected more than 650 billion cubic
feet of CO2 into oil reservoirs in the Permian. Occidental operates 31
active CO2 projects in the Crossett, Slaughter Field, Welch & Cedar
Lake, Wasson Field, Canyon Reef and other areas. We have seen CO2
flooding increase ultimate oil recovery by 10 to 25 percent where
applied. Much of our success is due to extensive automation to maximize
throughput performance. In recent years, we added a CO2 plant control
center, electronic wellhead shutdown devices, an injection distribution
system and other features.
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