It's being reported that a Texas oil field that was thought to be pretty much dead will come back from a near-death experience.
Injection of carbon dioxide will make it possible for the Hastings field to rise once again.
The Hastings field was discovered in 1934 by Stanolind Oil and Gas Co. and has produced about 600 million barrels of oil from 600 wells over its life. After hitting peak production of 75,000 barrels per day in the mid 1970s, it now yields just 1,000 barrels a day, according to Denbury, which took over the western portion of the field in early 2009.A new $1 billion CO2 pipeline from Louisiana to Texas may reinvigorate a number of old Texas fields.
Denbury's 320-mile Green Pipeline changes that. It transports carbon dioxide, mined in Mississippi, from Donaldsonville, La., to the Hastings field. Ultimately, Denbury hopes it also will carry carbon dioxide collected from Gulf Coast refiners, chemical plants and other industrial facilities - and be extended to other fields, including the much larger Conroe oil field in Montgomery County.Already, CO2 injection accounts for about 15 percent of the oil production coming out of Texas.
Another link here, dated January 23, 2011.
DNR is also the "face" of enhanced oil production in the Rockies.
this is the part of the article that excites me..
ReplyDeleteUsing conventional extraction methods, oil companies typically recover about a third of the oil in a reservoir. When carbon dioxide is injected into a well, however, it mixes with trapped oil and creates a new fluid that is less viscous and flows out more easily. Recovery rates can rise to 60 percent.
Can you imagine 60 % recovery over the years from the Bakken, TFS, and Tyler..
Recovering a third of the Bakken would be impressive.
ReplyDeletePlease, don't anyone tell the EPA that CO2 mixing with water produces carbonic acid. Just joking.