Opportunity and Challenges of Integrated Enhanced Oil Recovery Using CO2 Flooding with Geological CO2 Storage in the Ordos Basin, China

Abstract

In the current global economic and technological environment, integrating geological CO2 storage with enhanced oil recovery is the most practical way to reduce green-house gas emissions and increase the energy supply (CCUS). The overlapping development of large-scale coal conversion industries with existing oil and gas industries in the Ordos Basin, Northern Shaanxi Province has created a unique opportunity to apply a systematic approach to an energy/environmental protection development strategy: the integration of geological CO2 storage and enhanced oil recovery utilizing CO2 flooding (CO2 EOR) and geological storage that has been developed in Wyoming. The coal conversion industry in the Ordos Basin (i.e., coal-to-methanol, coal-to-olefins, etc.) provides affordable, capture- ready CO2 sources for developing large-scale CO2 EOR and CO2 storage projects in the Ordos Basin, China. Currently, over 40 Mt of highly concentrated CO2 (> 95%) are being captured and vented from the methanol plants. Compared with other CCS projects, the ability to use CO2 from the coal-conversion industry for CO2 EOR and geological CO2 storage will make these CCUS projects in the Ordos Basin more cost effective, technologically efficient, and environmentally sound. Supported by US-China Clean Energy Research Center, Shaanxi Provincial Government, and Yanchang Petroleum Group Company, the University of Wyoming, Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Energy Resources and Chemical Engineering, and Research Institute of Yanchang Petroleum (Group) Company have developed a CO2 enhanced oil recovery demonstration project that includes geological CO2 storage in a mature, depleted oil field located in the Northern Shaanxi Province, Ordos Basin. Various scenarios for enhanced oil recovery using CO2 flooding integrated with geological CO2 storage are being simulated and optimized. The results of the reservoir characterization and CO2 flooding simulation show that integrating CO2 EOR with geological CO2 storage is a viable way to reduce CO2 emission in the region.