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Concurrent 18. Oral Presentation for: Carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery in Australia – techno-economic evaluation, carbon dioxide source/sink networks and current policy landscape

David Bason A *
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A CO2CRC, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.

* Correspondence to: david.bason@co2crc.com.au

The APPEA Journal 63 - https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22365
Published: 2 June 2023

Abstract

Presented on Wednesday 17 May: Session 18

This paper presents the results of a techno-economics analysis to quantify the potential for storing CO2 and producing lower carbon intensity oil from mature, onshore Australian oil fields located in the Cooper/Eromanga and Surat/Bowen Basins. The work explores the impact of incentivisation, identifies possible sources of CO2 to support CO2-EOR (enhanced oil recovery) deployment, and discusses global CO2-EOR policy. The hypothetical ‘carbon incentive’ assessed in this study resulted in unlocking an additional 40 million metric tons (Mt) of CO2 storage and 73 million barrels (MMBO) of domestic oil production compared to the base case scenario that most closely represent Australia’s current policy and economic settings. Further, the results of this study indicated that, with incentivisation, net-negative carbon dioxide emissions could be achieved by deploying CO2-EOR practices in certain mature oil fields. The study found that there are currently sufficient industrial sources of CO2, particularly from black coal-fired power generation and hard-to-abate industries such as cement and steel production, to support this deployment. An opportunity to explore the co-development of ‘stacked storage’ using both CO2-EOR and concurrent geologic storage of CO2 in adjacent, unconnected reservoirs is proposed. This may significantly reduce development costs compared to stand-alone geologic storage projects, providing more favourable techno-economics, and accelerating the physical connection of CO2 sources and sinks.

To access the Oral Presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

Keywords: carbon dioxide, carbon intensity, emissions reduction, energy policy, enhanced oil recovery, net zero, techno-economics, utilisation.

David Bason is a Reservoir Engineer with CO2CRC in Melbourne, Victoria with 15 years of experience in the Energy industry. David is currently developing the latest research program for Stage 4 CO2 experiments at the Otway International Test Centre. David also consults through CO2Tech on various CCUS-focussed projects. He holds an MPhys from the University of Manchester, UK and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt University in Aberdeen, UK. David has previously worked as a Reservoir Engineer for Woodside Energy and as a Consultant with EY.