Pipeline Backbone for Carbon Dioxide for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Western Canada
Authors: Luhning R.W. , Glanzer J.H. , Noble P. , Wang H.-S. 
Published: March 2010

Carbon dioxide (CO2 injection into oil reservoirs is a proven technology that is emerging in Canada as an economic method to increase oil production from mature fields while sequestering CO2 emissions. Two commercial CO2 floods are currently operating in Alberta and Saskatchewan with a number of new projects identified for development. The Alberta and Saskatchewan governments have updated their royalty regulations to promote enhanced oil recovery and the industrial CO2 sources have been identified. The "building blocks" for a CO2 industry are being addressed, including the need for pipeline infrastructure to transport the CO2 from the industrial emission source to the commercial user. In the USA, the use of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery has resulted in the construction of about 2,500 km of pipeline. An ultimate network of about 2,000 km of pipelines for CO2 collection and transport has been proposed for Alberta alone. This paper will overview aspects related to the design and potential routes for a CO2 pipeline backbone system that could develop to collect CO2 supplies from a variety of industrial sources for transportation to commercial markets.

Introduction

Canada, mainly in the province of Alberta, holds one of the largest reserves of oil in the world. With current technology, the recoverable reserves are estimated(2) to be 53 billion m3. In recent years, Canada was the largest import supplier of crude oil to the USA(1). Saudi Arabia has been the second largest supplier of crude oil to the USA(2).

While the oil sands are a major and rapidly growing source of oil in Canada, the oil industry in Canada was founded on light sweet conventional crude oil. Although conventional oil in Canada represents less than 2% of the world oil resource, it has provided the basis for the industry in Canada. Billions of cubic metres of light oil remain in known oil reservoirs in Canada that are currently under production. The primary production levels are declining and new technology approaches are needed to continue economic production.

Enhanced oil recovery via CO2 injection in conventional light oil pools is a well developed technology that has been practiced in the USA for more than 40 years. Canada, and the province of Alberta in particular, have many light oil pools that are suitable for enhanced oil recovery using CO2 injection. Alberta is also fortunate in that oil sands projects, refineries, petrochemical plants, and natural gas processing plants produce large amounts of CO2 with the purity required for use for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).

To achieve the economic, environmental, and social benefits of enhanced oil recovery with CO2 injection, the technology needs to be demonstrated in the specific oil pool and the CO2 needs to be transported to the injection point. This paper will describe the unfolding plan to achieve the benefits of new clean energy from the use of CO2 for EOR in Alberta and Western Canada.

CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery in Canada

In Canada, commercial use of CO2 for EOR is limited to only two projects.