Injection of CO2 into depleted and near-depleted oil reservoirs offers the potential for two mutually beneficial results - - increasing oil recovery while sequestering industrial emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). This presentation examines how alternative technology designs and operating strategies may enable industry to significantly improve CO2-EOR oil recovery efficiencies from the traditional 8% to 12% of original oil in-place (OOIP) to potentially over 20% OOIP, while also significantly increasing the sequestration of CO2.

The presentation draws on laboratory work, reservoir simulation and in depth assessments of significant CO2-EOR field tests that show promise for high oil recovery. The insights gained from these sources are combined to show how injecting larger volumes of CO2, integrating horizontal wells with close vertical well spacing, rigorously managing the CO2-EOR operation, and controlling the conformance of the CO2 flood could lead to increased oil recovery efficiencies from CO2-EOR.

The presentation then examines how the sequestration of CO2 could be optimized both during and after completion of the oil recovery phase in mature oil reservoirs.