“Twenty years from now, and I hope sooner than that, you’re going to see it as a matter of routine where they’re taking the exhaust gas out, the waste CO2 out, and they’re injecting it into oil reserves for more recovery,” said Andrew, president and CEO of Calgary-based Penn West Energy Trust.

Penn West is poised to move ahead on a commercial-scale program of enhanced recovery at the long-established Pembina light oil pool southwest of Edmonton, using CO2 miscible flooding. The goal is to triple Penn West’s Pembina production from the current 12,000 barrels a day. Total capital cost for Penn West and partners at Pembina could reach $1 billion over several phases. However, the first phase is estimated at about $500 million, with Penn West contribution at about half of that amount. That would increase Penn West’s Pembina production by about 6,000 barrels a day. One of the biggest problems holding up the program has been solved: Penn West has a CO2 supplier. Andrew isn’t prepared yet to reveal the supplier or the source, because there are still more hurdles to clear.

“The next part is complicated,” said Andrew. “It involves putting in a pipeline that would connect our supplier with Pembina. Conversion of a number of wells to CO2 injectors would come next, followed by the installation of equipment at Pembina to handle CO2 . So, we’re looking at a timeframe—with regulatory approval and design work—of commencing injection on a commercial project in late 2008, early 2009.”

But if all goes well, Penn West will establish itself as a Canadian leader in the use of CO2 for enhanced recovery, a growing trend in the oil business. And Pembina could become the largest CO2 miscible flood in North America.

Miscible flooding is the process of injecting a reservoir with an agent that will mix with oil and lower its viscosity, as well as increase the pressure in the well, causing more of the entrenched material to ooze to the surface. The process is used in wells that have already passed through primary production, where natural pressure in the well pushes out the oil; and in wells that have passed secondary production, using water or natural gas flooding. In primary and secondary production, well pressure eventually falls to levels where output is so thin it’s not profitable. Miscible flooding, using hydrocarbon solvents or CO2, is considered tertiary production—an opportunity to take a third run at the reservoir to tap what’s left. And what’s left, is plenty. Primary and secondary production only suck up a small percentage of the total pool. But with tertiary production, the usual rules apply: input costs must be brought down to profitable levels.

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Related Posts

• SaskPower looks to pioneer clean coal tech
• On a Roll
• Harper’s China visit aimed at cutting oil price discounts
• Andy Reynolds: We will collaborate on new technologies
• Why oil and gas start-ups need people power