TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

EOR Operations
Stephen Goodyear, SPE, Manager, Gas Flood, Shell

Carbon-dioxide (CO2) injection is a suc- The US now has long as it can be established that the CO2
cessful enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) was stored. The tax credit is transferable,
technology that has been deployed a carbon-pricing hence nontax-paying entities or entities
extensively in the Permian Basin of West mechanism that have no tax liability can benefit from
Texas, enabled by CO2 mostly produced the program. The credit goes to the facil-
and transported from naturally occur- that could well ity that captures the CO2 and is available
ring CO2 reservoirs in Colorado and be enough to unlock for the first 12 years of operation. There
New Mexico.
a wave of innovative is no cap on the arrangement for the tax-
Further expansion of CO2 EOR has credit projects coming online after 2018
been limited by the availability of afford- CO2-capture projects. or for which construction has started
able CO2 rather than the existence of before 2024.
suitable target reservoirs for redevel- As a result, the US now has a carbon-
opment with CO2 EOR. The US Depart- president signed into law a budget agree- pricing mechanism that could well be
ment of Energy estimates that 67 billion ment that included language to expand a enough to unlock a wave of innovative
STB of economically recoverable next- 2009 tax credit for CO2 capture and stor- CO2-capture projects and lead to a sig-
generation CO2-EOR oil exist in US con- age known as 45Q. The key provisions are nificant expansion in CO2 EOR, ultimate-
ventional reservoirs, with significant that, for stored CO2, the tax credit rises to ly leading to new infrastructure, storage
potential identified in other oil provinces $50 per tonne in 2027, while, for EOR, the sites, and technology improvements that
around the world. equivalent value is $35. The amounts will give birth to a CO2-capture industry. JPT
This situation may be about to change. be adjusted for inflation after 2026. The
On 9 February, Congress passed and the tax credit is per tonne of CO2 captured as
Recommended additional reading
Stephen Goodyear, SPE, is manager, gas flood, in Shell’s
at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
Improved Oil Recovery/Enhanced Oil Recovery (IOR/EOR) SPE 185526 Surveillance and Initial
Centre of Expertise. He has 32 years of experience as a reser- Results of an Existing Polymer Flood:
voir engineer, principally working in EOR. Before joining Shell in A Case History From the Rayoso Formation
by L.A. Martino, YPF, et al.
2002, Goodyear worked for an oil and gas consultancy and,
over his career, has worked in a wide variety of roles, including SPE 188363 A Field Case Study of an
in research and field-development planning. He is Shell’s prin- Interwell Gas Tracer Test for Gas-EOR
cipal technical expert for gas EOR and storage solutions and Monitoring by Modiu Sanni, Saudi Aramco,
et al.
has a particular interest in next-generation CO2 EOR projects and carbon capture
and storage. Goodyear holds an MMath degree from Cambridge University and a SPE 185734 Case Histories of Solvent Use
PhD degree in physics from the University of Edinburgh. He is a member of the JPT in Thermal Recovery by Bita Bayestehparvin,
Editorial Committee and can be reached at stephen.goodyear@shell.com. University of Calgary, et al.

76 JPT • JUNE 2018