Outlook of CO₂ emission intensity reduction by chemical EOR

Abstract

Traditionally, much effort has been made by means of “carbon capture and storage（CCS）” and “carbon capture utilization and storage（CCUS）” from the perspective of reducing CO₂ emission as an adaptation for climate change issues in the oil and gas upstream sector. The most typical CCUS in the sector is CO₂ enhanced oil recovery （EOR）. In addition to those efforts, according to a worldwide rise of more rapid response to the issues, the CO₂ emission reducing discussion is expanding to chemical EOR in the last few years. Since a short while ago before the expansion, a core discussion had grown by dealing with CO₂ emission in waterflooding operations because of recognizing higher CO₂ emission intensity due to energy consumption of water treatment, injection, transportation, and disposal. Polymer flooding as a typical chemical EOR can reduce and/or delay water production by improving sweep efficiency. This water reduction can contribute mitigating CO₂ emission. Therefore, this paper recaps state of the art discussion focusing on chemical EOR potentials in the context of reducing CO₂ emission.