Co-optimization of Enhanced Oil Recovery and Carbon Dioxide Sequestration in a Compositionally Grading Iranian Oil Reservoir; Technical and Economic Approach

Abstract

Abstract Geological sequestration of carbon dioxide through enhanced oil recovery operation has been recognized as one of the more viable means of reducing emissions of anthropogenic CO2 into the atmosphere. The objective of this paper is to find the best EOR scenario for a compositional grading Iranian oil reservoir to be fed by a giant power plant which produces huge amount of CO2 emission, through simulation study. For this purpose a three-dimensional simplified yet realistic model of the reservoir considering compositional grading was built based on long term production data. Various simulation cases to combine different injection schemes and examining the effect of injection rate were conducted to propose an injection-production strategy that can optimize the oil recovery along with CO2 storage. This study is the first attempt to investigate technical and economic aspects of simultaneous CO2-EOR and sequestration for the nominated reservoir. Besides, this approach could be used for any gas cycling and natural gas storage process into this reservoir. The results presented in the study clearly demonstrated that continuous CO2 injection scheme through one injection and one production well, is the best scenario for simultaneous EOR and sequestration/gas storage which lead to higher CO2 storage and oil recovery efficiency. Through continuous CO2 injection, this reservoir has potential for large scale CO2-EOR and storage projects (injection of more than 240 thousand metric tons of CO2 per year with only one injection well without any field development plan). Finally an economic study is performed to confirm the best scenario.