SAGD CO2 injection proposed

CO2 injection improves recovery in conventional oil reservoirs. Will it improve recovery in SAGD too?

How do you find innovative SAGD field tests? With AppIntel you can set hit alerts to send you new applications that contain the words  thermal bitumen. 

In one SAGD pair, this operator proposes to inject CO2 with steam. This reduces steam-oil-ratio (SOR) but also potentially increases bitumen swelling and recovery.

Get the application documents about this operator's CO2 injection scheme in his SAGD project from our self-serve web portal.

Reduce SOR -> reduce cost

Reduction of steam-oil-ratio usually indicates a reduction of operating costs. Steam is a costly commodity to generate. When natural gas is very cheap, it might make sense to substitute it for steam as long as recovery doesn't suffer.

CO2 can be even cheaper than gas if it's harvested from boiler flue gas. In this way, CO2 may be a free injectant.

Not free CO2

But CO2 is not a free injectant for this short term pilot. During the test, the operator will buy CO2 from an Alberta CO2 supplier and have it trucked to site. This is a very expensive CO2 source.

CO2 causes oil to swell and increases pressure in the reservoir. CO2 swelling may also discrease bitumen viscosity although this operator doesn't claim this benefit.

CO2 benefits

The operator believes there are four mechanisms that trap CO2 in the reservoir. He lists them and maintains that this could be a good way to reduce greenhouse gases.

In this test, the operator hopes to quantify the mechanisms that trap CO2 in the reservoir. This could pave the way for CO2 sequestration in SAGD. We found this information using AppIntel.

CO2 downside

CO2 is corrosive when mixed with even small amounts of water. Corrosion may attack surface facilities and piplines, well heads, casing and tubing strings. The operator discusses CO2 corrosion attack in his application and how he will mitigate its effects.

Each AER application contains your neighbor's perspective on the exploitation of oil and gas formations. Applications contain more technical data even than SPE papers. Not only can you see implementation of new technology quicker, but you can also see the location it's installed. You can check out actual production response compared to the prediction.

And applications are adjudicated by a very picky regulator who has a stake in a technology's success or failure. This provides better intelligence than adjudication by a panel of engineers who have a passive interest in technology for technology's sake.

Tags: Thermal, Heavy Oil

Granger Low   28 Jun 2016

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