CO2 Capture Offers Promise for Enhanced Oil Recovery

by | Mar 17, 2014

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Carbon captureEnhanced oil recovery is a promising market for CO2 captured from electric power generation as EOR’s demand for the gas exceeds available supplies, according to analysts Visiongain.

Visiongain calculates that spending in the CO2 EOR market totaled $5.3 billion at the start of 2014. This includes spending on geological studies connected to CO2 EOR, injection and production well drilling and reworking, pumping equipment, CO2 recycling facilities and CO2 distribution pipelines.

According to The Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Market 2014-2024 report, there has been a growing interest in capturing some of the roughly 32 billion metric tons of CO2 released into the atmosphere globally from anthropogenic sources, and using this to boost production of oil from waning production areas.

The EOR market has been well-established in the oil and gas industry in the US since the 1970s. Low-cost naturally occurring CO2 has been tapped to provide a regular supply to EOR projects. However, the US remains the only nation to have discovered naturally occurring CO2 sources apart from natural gas collections with a high CO2 content. Demand for CO2 has risen while supply has not kept up.

This creates opportunities in many more countries outside the US where CO2 EOR markets have the potential to grow. The intensifying link with carbon capture technology will mean that areas advanced in this technology with significant maturing oil areas will prosper in the CO2 EOR market.

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