Improved Oil Recovery in the United States: The Race Between Technology Advancement and Resource Abandonment

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.P. Brashear
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
The United States ◽  
Improved Oil Recovery ◽  
Technology Advancement

Enhanced Oil-recovery and Its Environmental and Economic Implications in the United States

1981 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Argyle Campbell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
The United States ◽  
Chemical Processes ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Thermal Processes ◽  
Microbiological Processes ◽  
The Earth

This survey has described the foreseeable environmental and economic impacts of enhanced oil-recovery (EOR) on U.S. oil production between 1980 and 2000. It has indicated that EOR production may be expected to rise from the approximately 4% of total U.S. oil production in 1980, to the projected approximations of 10.5% in 1985, 18.5% in 1990, 23% in 1995, and perhaps 30% in 2000. These percentages are substantial, particularly as this form of oil production has been, up until recently, quite limited. Many of the processes are still in the laboratory stage of development—particularly chemical and microbiological processes. With continued laboratory experimentation and field research, it is possible that the percentages could be even greater than the above suggestions as we reach into the 21st Century.The potential for EOR is very considerable and probably great, as it could involve some two-thirds of all the oil already identified in the United States and assumed to be unrecoverable by primary or secondary means. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has given important incentives to the EOR industry to make such increased production worth while through raising prices to compensate for the cost of equipment, and deducting expenditure on such equipment from a new ‘Windfall Profit Tax’.Along with EOR's economic potential, there are two major ecological dangers: air pollution through thermal processes, and ground-water pollution through chemical processes. It is essential to the well-being of the United States that clean air standards be adhered to, and that the equipment necessary to purify the air (particularly in California) be available and operate to reduce emissions.A great deal more research needs to be undertaken towards developing safeguards to ensure that drinkingwater is not contaminated by dangerous chemicals which may be used in ‘chemical flooding’ of depleted oil-wells. Many of these chemicals have merely ‘come out of the laboratory’ and are sold by chemical companies without sufficient field-testing. How far these chemicals could travel underground must still be determined. It is also important to ensure that carbon dioxide, fed into a geological formation, can be recaptured and re-injected without escaping into the atmosphere, where there is the potential danger of a global ‘greenhouse effect’ upon the world's temperature. Finally, it is important to safeguard the Earth against microbes which could be injected into its geological strata without sufficient knowledge of their impact on the ecology of the Earth. Thus, much environmental research will be called for with these new methods of producing oil for Man's use.This study has reviewed the four major methods of EOR that are currently being utilized or proposed— thermal processes, miscible and semi-miscible processes, chemical processes, and microbiological processes, and found that they could all have ongoing possibilities.Given appropriate environmental safeguards, EOR should become a major force in the production of energy for the United States over the next 20 years, and it seems reasonable to expect that much the same could apply to other parts of the world. However, it is important that safeguarding the environment should guide the DOE in terms of its incentive programmes for specific processes.

CCS AS ONE OF the CO2 EMISSION REDUCTION METHODS

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Teresa ADAMCZAK-BIAŁY ◽  
Adam WÓJCICKI
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Geological Storage ◽  
Co2 Emission Reduction ◽  
And Storage

Information presented in the article allows us to introduce one of the ways of reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions responsible for the temperature increase and climate change. This is the technology of capture and underground storage of carbon dioxide in geologic structures (Carbon Capture and Storage/Sequestration – CCS). Most of the large-scale CCS projects (i.e. capture and storage of an order of magnitude of 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year) operate in the United States and Canada. Many of them are associated with the use of CO2 captured from the industrial processes for the enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The presented examples of projects are: Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Sequestration Demonstration Project (Canada), Great Plains Synfuels and Weyburn-Midale Project (Canada), and Kemper County IGCC Project (United States). CCS projects are crucial for demonstrating the technological readiness and reduce the cost of wider commercial implementation of capture and geological storage of CO2. The status of the projects on geological storage of CO2 in 2015 is 15 large-scale CCS projects operating around the world, and 7 projects in execution.

scholarly journals THE TEXACO CONNECTICUT'S OIL SPILL INCIDENT IN THE PANAMA CANAL

1983 ◽  
Vol 1983 (1) ◽  
pp. 367-370
Author(s):  
Cesar Von Chong ◽  
John C. Jordan ◽  
Ricardo Gutierrez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
The United States ◽  
Panama Canal ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Mechanical Methods ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Control Forces

ABSTRACT The second largest recorded oil spill to occur in the waters of the Panama Canal happened on June 7, 1980. The 39,366 deadweight ton (dwt) United States tanker Texaco Connecticut, while on a northbound transit and laden with Alaskan crude, struck the east bank of Gaillard Cut, ripping its number 1 and 2 cargo tanks. In a period of approximately six hours, from the time the tanker struck the bank of the canal until it was anchored for repairs at Limon Bay, the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal, an estimated 4,000 barrels (bbl) of crude were spilled in a distance of approximately 35 miles. A multi-agency effort was deployed immediately. The Panama Canal Commission's own pollution control forces, in close working coordination with other units of the commission, the United States Army and the Government of the Republic of Panama were able to recover a total of 1,361 bbl of crude. Manual and mechanical methods of oil recovery were used during 27 days in which an estimated total of 29,396 man-hours were used at a total cost of approximately $800,000. The environmental impact of the spill was observed by Panama Canal Commission biologists as well as by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). Although no baseline data exists for comparison, it is apparent that no far reaching negative effects were imposed on the fauna and flora of Gatun Lake.

scholarly journals Infrastructure to enable deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (38) ◽  
pp. E8815-E8824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan W. J. Edwards ◽  
Michael A. Celia
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Government Finance ◽  
Transport Costs ◽  
And Storage

In February 2018, the United States enacted significant financial incentives for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) that will make capture from the lowest-capture-cost sources economically viable. The largest existing low-capture-cost opportunity is from ethanol fermentation at biorefineries in the Midwest. An impediment to deployment of carbon capture at ethanol biorefineries is that most are not close to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) fields or other suitable geological formations in which the carbon dioxide could be stored. Therefore, we analyze the viability of a pipeline network to transport carbon dioxide from Midwest ethanol biorefineries to the Permian Basin in Texas, which has the greatest current carbon dioxide demand for EOR and large potential for expansion. We estimate capture and transport costs and perform economic analysis for networks under three pipeline financing scenarios representing different combinations of commercial and government finance. Without government finance, we find that a network earning commercial rates of return would not be viable. With 50% government financing for pipelines, 19 million tons of carbon dioxide per year could be captured and transported profitably. Thirty million tons per year could be captured with full government pipeline financing, which would double global anthropogenic carbon capture and increase the United States’ carbon dioxide EOR industry by 50%. Such a development would face challenges, including coordination between governments and industries, pressing timelines, and policy uncertainties, but is not unprecedented. This represents an opportunity to considerably increase CCUS in the near-term and develop long-term transport infrastructure facilitating future growth.

scholarly journals UNITED STATES COAST GUARD ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE CAPABILITY “THEN” AND “NOW”

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 459-461
Author(s):  
Leonard Rich
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Security Measures ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Oil Spill Response

ABSTRACT The intent of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90) is to ensure the U.S. Government is prepared to protect the environment from a catastrophic spill of the magnitude and complexity of the 1989 EXXON VALDEZ oil spill. The OPA90 legislation resulted in an overall restructuring and enhancement of the National Strike Force (NSF), and establishment of District Response Groups who are staffed and equipped with mechanical spill recovery assets and are prepared to take prompt actions to mitigate a worst case discharge scenario. During the early 1990s, over $31 million dollars worth of oil spill response equipment was acquired and placed at 23 locations throughout the United States. Since then, an additional $10 million dollars of environmental emergency response equipment has been added to the USCG'S inventory, and are now located at 16 additional sites. This paper will elaborate on the evolution of the USCG'S environmental emergency response capabilities. In terms of preparedness, it will explain how, where and why the Coast Guard has adjusted its resources and capabilities since the OPA90 legislation. The expanded mission requirements include; redistributing and adjusting the locations of the Vessel of Opportunity Skimming Systems, expanding functional use of the pre-positioned equipment for dewatering during shipboard fires, designing and implementing an offload pumping system for viscous oil at each NSF Strike Team, revisiting the condition and continued use of OPA90 procured first response “band-aid’ equipment, modifying the basic response equipment systems for fast current spill response, and the implementation of the Spilled Oil Recovery System. These actions reflect policy and mission adjustments influenced by an ever changing environment. The Coast Guard has re-organized from the bottom up to meet increased port security measures, and the capability to respond to all-hazard incidents. We must continue to maintain a high state of readiness in the oil spill response environment and accept the need to incorporate change to the equipment and the way we conduct our support to the American public.

scholarly journals SUBSURFACE IMAGING USING GROUND PENETRATING RADAR FOR UNDERGROUND OIL AND MINERALS EXPLORATION

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 71-79
Author(s):  
T. Kishan Rao ◽  
M Shankar Lingam ◽  
Manish Prateek ◽  
E. G. Rajan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Ground Penetrating Radar ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Oil Well ◽  
Subsurface Imaging ◽  
Offshore Development ◽  
Ground Penetrating ◽  
The Cost

A drilling company operates in accordance with a contract which specifies that an oil well will be drilled to a specific depth. The average cost to find and develop an oil and gas property in the United States is $17.01/ barrels-of-oil-equivalent from 2005 to 2007. The cost for onshore development was $13.38/BOE and for offshore development was $49.54/BOE. Based on some statistics one out of five rigs drilled in an area yields oil recovery. This means $20 million has to be spent for prospecting and locating one oil well. The question that arises now is whether it is worth trying all possibilities of reducing the cost of locating an oil well to $4 million and save $16 million. Well, the research presented in this paper is aimed at showing such a possibility.

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