CO2-driven Enhanced Oil Recovery as a Stepping Stone to What?
This paper draws heavily on the authors’ previously published research to explore the extent to which near term carbon dioxide-driven enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) can be “a stepping stone to a long term sequestration program of a scale to be material in climate change risk mitigation.” The paper examines the historical evolution of CO2-EOR in the United States and concludes that estimates of the cost of CO2-EOR production or the extent of CO2 pipeline networks based upon this energy security-driven promotion of CO2-EOR do not provide a robust platform for spurring the commercial deployment of carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies (CCS) as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The paper notes that the evolving regulatory framework for CCS makes a clear distinction between CO2-EOR and CCS and the authors examine arguments in the technical literature about the ability for CO2-EOR to generate offsetting revenue to accelerate the commercial deployment of CCS systems in the electric power and industrial sectors of the economy. The authors conclude that the past 35 years of CO2-EOR in the U.S. have been important for boosting domestic oil production and delivering proven system components for future CCS systems. However, though there is no reason to suggest that CO2-EOR will cease to deliver these benefits, there is also little to suggest that CO2-EOR is a necessary or significantly beneficial step towards the commercial deployment of CCS as a means of addressing climate change.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 983734
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-19557; 400408000; TRN: US201014%%1797
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
02 PETROLEUM
CAPTURE
CARBON SEQUESTRATION
CARBON DIOXIDE
CLIMATIC CHANGE
COST
ECONOMY
ENHANCED RECOVERY
GREENHOUSE GASES
HAZARDS
INDUSTRY
MITIGATION
OILS
PIPELINES
PRODUCTION
STORAGE
carbon dioxide capture and storage
geologic CO2 storage
CO2-driven enhanced oil recovery
climate change
greenhouse gas emissions mitigation