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Enhanced oil recovery is perceived to have a history of unfulfilled promise.  However, both thermal and carbon dioxide flooding technologies have proven successful; surfactant and polymer flooding less so as a result of the sustained oil price collapse of the 1980s.

 

Forecasts of world oil demand and supply include both undiscovered resources and EOR as significant contributors.  With a world resource of some 9 trillion barrels, and production of just 1.1 trillion barrels to date, EOR has the advantage of knowing where its resources are.

 

In addition, plans to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide provides an impetus for the implementation of CO2 sequestration projects - these can improve recovery factors worldwide, not just in the Permian Basin.  Advances in polymer and surfactant flooding technology, and in oil field tools and techniques, make the application of those processes more robust.

 

EOR has not been present in the offshore; while applications present logistical as well as technical challenges, the offshore represents a large EOR opportunity.

 

To achieve and exceed the expectations of EOR's contribution to supply, innovative political and commercial approaches are needed; for example, agreements regarding CO2 capture and transportation, NOCs and IOCs sharing the risk as well as the reward in EOR applications.

 

Key idea:  Today's EOR is not your grandfather's EOR.  It represents a major challenge and opportunity, and efforts to realize this opportunity need to begin now.