A Systematic Assessment of Enhanced Oil Recovery and Co-Sequestration Potential for CO2 in Ohio’s Depleted Oilfields

The goal of this study is to develop process understanding and evaluate technical and economic feasibility of CO₂ utilization foe enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and geologic storage in Ohio. Our focus is on depleted oil fields in the Clinton sandstone (Eastern Ohio) and the Knox Dolomite Group (North-Central Ohio). These fields are promising candidates for CO₂-assisted EOR because of poor primary recovery efficiency that leaves behind approximately 80–90% of the original oil in place. A systematic assessment of EOR and co-sequestration potential for CO₂in these depleted oil fields has not been undertaken to date – which is the objective of this research project. In this paper, we will describe our findings related to:

• Source-sink matching for characterizing potential stationary sources of CO₂ with respect to their location and size, and comparing that to the distribution of depleted oil fields using pipeline routing tools,
• Production history assessment for evaluating CO₂ sequestration potential based on production-based voidage replacement calculations,
• Reservoir characterization for developing geologic framework models for “reference” reservoirs in the Clinton and Knox formations via integration of well-log and core analysis data,
• Fluid property characterization for evaluating empirical correlations to predict oil, gas, water, and CO₂ pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) relationships,
• Reservoir simulation studies based on the geologic framework models to better understand field-scale areal and vertical sweep efficiencies for both continuous and water-alternating-gas CO₂-EOR processes, and
• Economic analyses including compilation of capital and operating expenses representative of field conditions in Ohio; and cost-benefit analysis for CCUS operations.

This project is funded by the Ohio Development Services Agency and co-funded by the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP).