CO2 Injection Reported as New Way to Increase Dying and Revive Abandoned Oil
Field Production
Carbon dioxide, CO2, is now seen as a viable way to get the last drops of oil out of dying
oil fields. Due to its stickiness, the last drops of oil can amount to significant quantities of oil – however the problem
is coaxing the oil out of the earth. In order to overcome that problem, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is applying the CO2 technique
to the Salt Creek oil field in Wyoming. That dying field had a production level of 1.7 million barrels in 2004 compared to
6.3 million barrels in 1978. Through the injection of CO2 into the wells Anadarko expects to get another 200 million barrels
of the black gold out of the wells. On a daily basis, the CO2 technology is expected to increase production at Salt Creek
from 5,000 barrels a day now to 30,000 barrels a day in 2010.
The cost to inject the CO2 is not cheap. Anadarko plans to invest
up to $624 million in the Salt Creek facility. The investment is to include a 125 mile CO2 pipeline as well as compressors
to inject the CO2.
Anadarko indicates that half of the CO2 injected into the ground
stays there. The company did not indicate where the other half of the CO2, which the company affirms is a greenhouse gas,
goes. Anadarko did indicate that CO2 is in short supply. The company did point out that coal fire plants produce CO2,
but that is vented into the atmosphere. Currently, there are programs in the United Kingdom that plan to address CO2 generated
from coal fired plants. Initial plans are to capture the CO2 and store it safely at the bottom of the sea. Further technology
developments may lower the cost of capturing CO2 to utilize it for oil field projects such as Anadarko’s.
Anadarko indicates that it has planned other CO2 projects for a
number of dying and abandoned oil fields and that the CO2 injection technique is economically feasible even if oil returns
to $20.00 a barrel.
