What Is Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)?
Let me explain what Enhanced Oil Recovery, or EOR, really is. It's also known as tertiary recovery, and it's the process I use to get oil out that hasn't been pulled up by primary or secondary methods.
You see, while primary and secondary techniques depend on pressure differences between the surface and the well underground, EOR changes the oil's chemical makeup directly. This makes it simpler to extract, and that's the key point here.
Key Takeaways
- Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is the practice of extracting oil from a well that has already gone through the primary and secondary stages of oil recovery.
- Depending on the price of oil, EOR techniques may not be economically viable.
- EOR techniques can affect the environment negatively, though new innovations in the sector may help reduce this impact in the future.
How Enhanced Oil Recovery Works
I want you to understand that EOR techniques are complex and costly, so they're only brought in when primary and secondary methods are done. In fact, based on oil prices, it might not even make sense to use EOR at all. If that's the case, the remaining oil and gas just stay in the reservoir because pulling them out isn't profitable.
Three Main Types of EOR Techniques
In the first type, you inject gases forcefully into the well to push the oil up and thin it out by reducing its viscosity. Thinner oil flows easier and costs less to extract. Various gases work, but carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most common.
This CO2 use might keep going or even grow, thanks to advances that let us transport it as foams or gels. For some, this is a big step because it means CO2 injections can happen far from natural CO2 sources.
But let's be clear: there are serious worries about CO2's environmental harm. Most countries are pushing for sustainable energy alternatives over CO2.
Other EOR methods include pumping steam into the well to heat the oil and make it less viscous. You can get similar results with fire flooding, where you light a fire around the reservoir's edge to drive oil toward the well.
Finally, injecting polymers or other chemicals into the reservoir cuts viscosity and boosts pressure, but these are often too expensive to justify.
Using Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods
Petroleum companies and scientists turn to EOR to extend well life in proven or probable fields. Proven reserves have over a 90% recovery chance, and probable ones are above 50%.
The downside is EOR can harm the environment, like leaking chemicals into groundwater. A newer method, plasma pulsing from Russia, might cut these risks. It radiates fields with low-energy emissions to lower viscosity, similar to traditional EOR.
Since plasma pulsing skips injecting gases, chemicals, or heat, it could be less damaging to the environment than current options.
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