Evaluation of Carbon Footprint Reduction for a CO₂ EOR Injection Scheme Field Pilot

Enhance oil recovery using CO₂ as a solvent is posed to be a major technology in producing energy with a lower carbon footprint. It is therefore important to operate such technologies in an efficient manner. Foam-assisted technologies in which a surfactant aids conformance of the CO₂ in-situ, allowing it to produce oil more effectively. This CO₂ foam assisted EOR may be a critical technology if the CO₂ utilized is of anthropogenic origin and is eventually sequestered underground. As such, having a framework where the potential benefits of foam-assisted technology are calculated is relevant. A calculation framework is introduced in this work with a life cycle thinking approach. To showcase the calculation methodology, a field trial is taken as an example of a successful EOR intervention technology. A field pilot from a trial between The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) and ConocoPhillips (Now Maverick, SPE 201199) is used. Injection and production data, together with industry averages on electricity generation, gas compression, and water treatment, were utilized to calculate energy input into the process prior, during, and post-trial. With this, a reduction of carbon footprint of 17% was realized together with a 30% reduction of freshwater use.