Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Carbon dioxide (CO2) enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has been proven in the field to be successful to a large extent under some favourable reservoir conditions. Many light and medium oil reservoirs in western Canada are especially suitable for miscible or near-miscible CO2 flooding, which not only effectively enhances oil recovery but also considerably reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The proposed collaborative research and development (CRD) project is a focused and joint R&D effort to be made by a research group at the University of Regina and the CO2-EOR Team in Penn West Energy Trust. The major research objective of this CRD project is to achieve a long-sought better fundamental understanding and generate some much-needed new technical knowledge of how the injected CO2 actually interacts with the reservoir oil, brine, and formation under the actual reservoir conditions. Furthermore, it will quantify how these mutual and complex interactions will affect CO2 EOR, CO2-induced brine scaling, and reservoir integrity for subsequent CO2 sequestration in depleted oil reservoirs. This university-industry joint CRD project aims at providing direct and strong technical support for two major ongoing Penn West CO2-EOR projects and future CO2 sequestration projects, as well as, developing new technical knowledge and practical applications of much more efficient CO2-EOR and carbon sequestration techniques. Direct application of the project results will benefit the Canadian petroleum industry by conducting more efficient CO2-EOR projects and recovering much more high-quality light and medium crude oils. In the long term, a better understanding of mutual interactions between the injected CO2 and reservoir fluids and rocks under the actual reservoir conditions will assist and guide future CO2-EOR and carbon sequestration projects. In addition to the direct economic benefits of more efficient CO2-EOR projects, Canadians will also continue to enjoy reduced greenhouse gas emissions (i.e., cleaner air) and conserved natural resources (i.e., natural gas and surface water) if some innovative carbon sequestration techniques are successfully applied in the future.