Enhanced Oil Recovery – the History of CO2 Conventional Wag Injection Techniques Developed from Lab in the 1950’s to 2017

During the past 45 years, CO₂ flood technology for Enhanced Oil Recovery projects evolved from a partially understood process filled with uncertainties to a process based on proven technology and experience. Many questions involved with CO₂ flooding have been thoroughly analyzed and answered. This knowledge is currently being used by a limited number of companies that actually know how to design, implement, and manage a CO₂ flood for long term profit. The purpose of this report is to help disseminate this knowledge to operating companies interested in EOR flooding or to CO₂ Sequestration Communities interested in storing CO₂ in EOR projects.

In 2014, Merchant Consulting published CMTC-440075-MS “Life beyond 80 – A look at Conventional WAG Recovery beyond 80% HCPV Injection in CO₂ Tertiary Floods”. The primary objective of the report was to target all 10 CO₂ Recovery Methods used to day including “Conventional WAG Techniques” which have been used in over 90% of all the Enhanced Oil Recovery projects implemented in the Permian Basin in Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. The paper presents answers to the question “What is life after 80% HCPV Injected?” And “What effect does life after 80% HCPV have on Tertiary Oil Recovery, CO₂ Utilization and CO₂ Retention in different producing formations?” Results of this study show Tertiary Oil Recovery can be as high as 26% OOIP when slug sizes exceed 190% HCPV injected.

Conventional WAG History in CO₂ Tertiary Oil Projects:

To achieve CO₂ Injection beyond 80% HCPV Injection requires proper CO₂ WAG Management. The purpose of this report is to provide both the EOR and CO₂ Sequestration Communities an understanding of the “History of Conventional WAG” and how it has changed from first introduced in the Lab in the 1950’s, to how it was implemented and developed in the 1980’s by the Major Oil companies in the Permian Basin, and how Conventional WAG is being managed today in the field.