Further Advances of CO2-EOR By Promoting a “Triple-E” Approach:  Energy Security, Environmental Quality, and Economic Viability

Greater application of CO₂ to enhance recovery in utilization operations can facilitate the large-scale implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects and reduce the United States (U.S.) dependence on foreign oil. This article explains how further advances in CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR) can provide a new framework for energy policy on national and global scales by promoting a “triple-e” approach: (1) energy security, (2) environmental quality, and (3) economic viability. Through the use of data obtained from scientific, academic, industry, and government sources, the analysis shows that CO₂-EOR, if expanded, can ensure that the U.S. remains a world leader in secure, safe, and economically viable energy production. Understanding CO₂-EOR and the opportunities and challenges it brings is essential for both policymakers and consumers.

CO₂-EOR is a mature technology that currently generates around 300,000 barrels of oil each day in the U.S. CO₂-EOR and other tertiary extraction methods are already having an appreciable impact on the U.S. oil self-sufficiency. It is a contributing factor to the recent U.S. oil boom that has resulted in lower gasoline prices, but CO₂-EOR’s potential for energy security is largely untapped. CO₂-EOR practices will likely change substantially in the next few years, as “man-made,” or anthropogenic, sources of CO₂ are needed to make up for limited supplies of natural CO₂ that have dominated operations up to this point.

Anthropogenic CO₂ will play a critical role in expanding CO₂-EOR oil production in the U.S., and a promising source of it comes from fossil fuels – specifically, coal-fueled power plants. Clean coal plants can play a key role in producing anthropogenic CO₂ while addressing worldwide concerns about climate change. The CO₂-EOR process can significantly impact climate change by (1) using huge quantities of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere (from clean coal plants and other industrial sources) and (2) storing residual CO₂ deep underground in permanent geological structures.

Continued development of CO₂-EOR can help expand domestic energy generation, providing many economic benefits. Investment in all phases of the energy sector across the U.S. has grown rapidly and is expected to continue. The technologies of CO₂-EOR production generate revenue through several streams, including severance and ad valorem taxes, federal and state royalties, lease income, jobs, investments, and others. A sufficient supply of affordable CO₂ can produce its own revenue from CO₂ sales for the purposes of CO₂-EOR and help support the CCS-related technologies. Cost-effective production of anthropogenic sources of CO₂ could help grow a domestic market for chemicals, especially chemicals that are now discarded as waste products.

This study concludes that greater application of CO₂-EOR needs support from policymakers in order to advance the “triple-e” framework.  Recommendations include additional research funding to examine economic ways to improve CO₂ capture, separation, transport, storage, and monitoring; a new federal tax credit to recognize permanent storage of anthropogenic CO₂ during hydrocarbon recovery operations; and a vigilant monitoring of the classification regulations for Class II and Class VI wells under the Safe Drinking Water Act.