Open letter: CCS is needed and ready to address climate change. This is from the Regina-based International CCS Knowledge Centre.
In response to some of the comments yesterday – carbon capture, as practiced in Saskatchewan, actually has a substantial benefit besides whatever climate issues one might be concerned about. The Weyburn Unit, one of the largest and most prolific oil plays in this country, has been in operation for 65 years. If it had no CO2 injection, it would probably be producing around 6,000 barrels per day. It’s currently doing around 24,000 as a direct result of CO2-enhanced oil recovery. That’s a gain of around 18,000 bpd. At $75/bbl., that’s about $1.3 million per day in gross revenue. It means hundreds of jobs in Weyburn, including my daughter, who started working as a heavy duty mechanic apprentice for an oilfield service company which has been working in the Unit for 62 years. If the CO2 continues to flow, that oilfield is expected to continue on likely for her entire career, if she stays there.
This can be applied on a much broader scale, dramatically extending the life of any oilfield it is applied to. CO2 increases recovery factors from around 20% to 40%+.
Just pumping CO2 into the ground – that’s another story.
It would be great if they made that distinction – “We capture carbon to assist in oil extraction – it will have no impact on the climate whatsoever”
Instead it will be used to validate “climate change”
Why would they have no enhanced recovery if not for CO2?
There’s basically three levels of oil extraction (possibly four, depending on how you consider the first.) When you drill a well, if the formation is pressurized, it will flow freely. This is common in the middle east and on all offshore wells. But that doesn’t last long, if at all, in places like Saskatchewan. So you put a pump on it, like a pumpjack. This is primary production, and it will get you roughly 10% to maybe 20% of the original oil in place (all rough numbers). But as time passes, the percentage of water that comes up with the oil rises substantially. In southern Saskatchewan, it can reach 98 per cent water. So you have to deal with the water, as well as the drop in pressure in the reservoir. So you pump it back down into the same formation. This helps maintain formation pressure and also washes out more oil. This “waterflooding” is considered secondary production, and will extend the life of an oilfield by decades. Production is low but generally consistent and profitable. This will generally get you to 20 per cent and change of the initial oil in place.
The third level of production, or “tertiary production” is usually called enhanced oil recovery. There are several methods of this, but most revolve around pumping some form of solvent into the formation to essentially wash more oil out of the rocks. At depths greater than 1,000 metres, compressed carbon dioxide acts as a supercritical fluid and works as a solvent, washing more and more oil out of the rock. The more CO2 you pump into the formation, the more oil you get. We’re now talking recovery factors of 40% or more, basically doubling the amount of oil you can get out of the ground. So Whitecap Resources (and previous to them, Cenovus) pays around $30 per tonne CO2 to pump it into the ground. About half stays and half comes back. It is continuously reprocessed and reinjected. The Weyburn Unit injects more than 2 million tonnes of additional CO2 per year.
The net effect is you dramatically extend the life of the field. Instead of all but running dry two decades ago, the Weyburn Unit will likely end up producing oil for 100 years, maybe more.
So if you are concerned about CO2 emissions, but still want to produce oil, this is the absolute best way to do it. Whitecap advertises themselves as a net-zero oil producer as a result.
You do you Zinchuck.
And I’ll continue to scoff at anyone who falsely claims the barely trace element of Co2 in the atmosphere is warming the planet. Prove it. Because nobody has. I refuse to live in a false paradigm
Saskatchewan industry will become hooked on CC and become dependent on federal largesse. Saskatchewan will become a rotten borough like Quebec in 10 years.
Stupidity is a weapon the Left wields.
These people at Sask Power are insane. Co-2 nurtures plant growth! Last time I drove through southern Sask, especially, there was a dearth of natural trees and foliage, except for those trees, watered by suburban urbanites who do not understand basic high school science.
co-2 should be left alone for the possible coming Canadian cooling. The next cooling will help them remember, especially those who survived the “dirty 30s”, grannies, maybe grandpas still alive.