Finding ways to make the CO2 + EOR business work

You need to be signed in to reserve your place for this event.
» Sign In
» Create Free Account

Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Aberdeen
Aberdeen Marriott Hotel

(venue booking not yet confirmed)

There are estimates that it takes a third of a ton of carbon dioxide to displace an extra barrel of oil in enhanced oil recovery.

If carbon dioxide can be pushed downhole for £50 a ton, and each barrel of oil is worth £70, then this is a system to turn £17 into £70. Of course there's the small matter of the infrastructure and separation costs, but still, this is an indication of what might be possible with carbon dioxide plus enhanced oil recovery.

If the increased revenue from enhanced oil recovery can cover the costs of both carbon capture and storage, then we can increase production, reduce CO2 emissions at the same time, without waiting for China and the US to agree on a carbon price.

The difficulty is that no single EOR project will generate enough revenue to cover the costs of a carbon capture and storage infrastructure - estimated at £4bn. No carbon capture project will be built without a guaranteed revenue. So unless we have some government input, we'll never start. Are there some ways around this problem? We will try to find them at our Dec 13th Aberdeen forum "Finding ways to make the CO2 + EOR business work".

This is our 4th event about CO2 and EOR - see the programs and delegate lists for previous events:

Apr 18 2012 - New ideas in Improved Recovery and EOR

Jan 18 2012 - Extending the life of the North Sea - building a CO2 utilisation and storage industry

Sept 15 2010 - Carbon Capture and Storage