Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
6/19/2015
The United Kingdom would benefit from boosting efforts to increase the use of CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery in the North Sea, according to a report released this week by Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage, an independent academic and applied research partnership of British Geological Survey, Heriot-Watt University, University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Strathclyde. The paper explains that by utilizing captured CO2 in EOR, value is given to what would otherwise be considered a waste product. “[CO2 –EOR] gives significant benefits to the wider UK economy – extending the producing life of the North Sea, reducing imports of oil, maintaining employment, developing new capability to drive exports, and additional direct and indirect taxation revenues. At a national level this synergy between CCS and CO2 –EOR could provide the overall most cost effective way to accelerate this energy transition between 2018 and 2030, to meet Committee on Climate Change decarbonisation pathways,” the report says.
According to the report, roughly 55 percent of an oilfield’s oil is left underground in typical North Sea oil production. Using captured CO2 in EOR would not only increase North Sea oil production, but also reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign oil. “Decreasing North Sea production, combined with consistent oil consumption in the UK, results in increasing quantities of oil being imported from elsewhere in the world,” the report says. “North Sea oil production can continually drift downwards, or can become extended and more efficient. New industries can be created and regulated, or established positions can be maintained as they decline. It is clear that CO2 –EOR can offer a way to journey forward towards a low carbon future. … If successfully navigated, then CO2 –EOR can accelerate the emergence of a new long duration industry of CO2 storage beneath the North Sea.”
The report suggests various means to cultivate interest in CO2-EOR in the United Kingdom. Financing and regulatory uncertainty remain obstacles for EOR, as they are for CCS. “New enabling fiscal regimes for CO2 – EOR projects and clusters are needed, similar in size to existing brown field or development allowances. Those new regimes must make investing in CO2 –EOR in the UK competitive with the alternative global investment opportunities open to international oil and gas companies,” the report says.
