CO2-Enhanced Oil Recovery System Optimization for Contract-based versus Integrated Operations

Abstract

CO2-enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR), with its incremental hydrocarbon revenue, is considered a more economical approach among potential carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) strategies. The economic performance of CO2-EOR, however, is critically affected by factors such as associated energy penalty, time-varying CO2 injection requirement for hydrocarbon production, volatile hydrocarbon prices, and the substitution effect of CO2-EOR for gas-EOR for certain producers. As one of the first steps to understand the economic potential of CO2-EOR, this paper presents two CO2-EOR system optimization models corresponding to two regulatory regimes: (1) a contract operator focusing on minimizing the direct cost including energy penalty, and (2) an integrated operator concerned about maximizing broader payoffs including marginal hydrocarbon revenue. We apply the two models to a set of power plants and oil production reservoirs in California and show that the optimal infrastructure networks can be substantial different under different operation schemes. Market regulation is thus one of the influencing factors that shall be considered in the planning of CO2-EOR.