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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Another Exciting Energy Story -- CO2 EOR -- Wyoming -- Not a Bakken Story Yet

This is another huge story (see link below). Perhaps it is my irrational exuberance with regard to the Bakken that has me blinded to reality, but when I see a story I like this (see below), it makes me wish we had an optimist and an entrepreneur in the White House.

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.

“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.
Some data points for investors:
  • 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).
My understanding is that as an oil well depletes, the first EOR method is water flooding, and that is followed by CO2 EOR.
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7 comments:

  1. Old OilJuly 24, 2011 at 7:58 AM

    Take a look at SSAU in Seminal Texas it may suprise you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 24, 2011 at 8:13 AM

    Interesting 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.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bruce OksolJuly 24, 2011 at 8:23 AM

    For those interested, and maybe a stand-alone post, later:

    http://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.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Old OilJuly 24, 2011 at 8:25 AM

    http://www.mywesttexas.com/business/oil/top_stories/article_9d96cce7-3976-597d-9f6d-0eac8500e416.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bruce OksolJuly 24, 2011 at 8:34 AM

    ROZ: residual oil zones.

    Oil 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

    ReplyDelete
  6. donJuly 24, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    look at slides 7 and slide 8 from http://co2conference.net/presentations/2010/3-4_SummaryFieldTripSlides_12-10.pdf

    Slide 8 shows current production and also CO2 injection rates..

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bruce OksolJuly 24, 2011 at 9:51 AM

    Impressive.

    Wow, 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.

    ReplyDelete

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