CO₂ Storage in Depleted Oil Fields

Technical Report

1 December 2009

IEAGHG

Citation: IEAGHG, "CO₂ Storage in Depleted Oil Fields", 2009-12, December 2009.

Publication Overview

The study took as its starting point, IEA GHG Report on PH3/23 undertaken in 2000 as its base line data set. The study was to assess the data within the report and determine whether there was newer data on issues, (e.g. CO₂ use/bbl oil produced in EOR floods) that could be used to revise global estimates.

Publication Summary

Based on the above study and approach, four key findings emerged, and are summarized below:

Commercial-Scale, Profitable CO₂-EOR Has Been Ongoing for Over 30 Years In Geologically Favorable Oil Fields With Access To Affordable CO₂.

Extrapolating this Experience to the 52 Largest Oil Basins of the World Indicates that CO₂-EOR Could Provide 450-820 Billion Barrels of Additional Oil While Storing 130 to 240 Gt of CO₂.

The Lack of Ready Availability of CO₂ Places Limits on How Much of this Oil Resource and CO₂ Storage Capacity Can Be Accessed Today.

Numerous Options and Actions Exist That Could Increase Today’s Estimates of CO₂-EOR-Based Oil Recovery and CO₂ Storage Capacity.

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