David S Hughes is a reservoir engineer with 27 years’ experience. Since 2000 he has worked for Senergy Ltd (formerly Reservoir Management Limited) in Aberdeen in the UK. 

     Throughout his career he has specialized in the scientific, technical, and engineering aspects of enhanced oil recovery processes including hydrocarbon and CO2 gas injection, chemical and biological processes, and in situ combustion. David has undertaken design assessments of CO2 enhanced oil recovbery (EOR) projects in offshore and onshore reservoirs.  He was first involved in such assessments in the 1980's.  He is currently a member of the team at BP designing the first offshore CO2 EOR project in the Miller Field in the North Sea . 

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Description of presentation:

     The key message is the worldwide opportunity to use the skills of the oil industry to exploit the synergy between reduced CO2 emissions and sequestration of CO2 in depleted reservoirs.

     The UK has a soon to be legally binding target to reduce CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050. As a contribution to achieving this reduction, much of the UK’s fossil-fuelled power generation is expected to be replaced by new coal-fired power stations equipped with carbon capture. This will make available large quantities of CO2 which could be injected into depleted reservoirs. The UK is collaborating with Norway and other countries around the North Sea rim in the planning of CO2 storage regulations and infrastructure, and is assisting in the development of carbon capture and storage technology in developing countries. There is no experience of injecting anthropogenic CO2 into offshore oil fields so despite the maturity of land-based CO2 EOR, this is a new challenge.

     As there is a global imperative to reduce CO2 emissions, this opportunity is also available to other countries with significant coal-fired electricity generation and an indigenous oil industry (e.g. USA and China). The talk will include policy background, plans by utility companies, sources and sinks for CO2, the EOR opportunity, infrastructure requirements and engineering challenges.