Engineering topics

Gil-Egui, Ramon

Publications and source records attributed to Gil-Egui, Ramon.

5 records

DOE OSTI2019

A Sustainable Approach to Decision-Making in CCUS Systems

This study proposes a methodology for operational decision-making leading to the sustainability CO 2 -EOR systems. The methodology is a simple, yet comprehensive, integration of environmental and economic carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) performance. Understanding the interplay between the environmental and economic conditions allows the EOR operator to manage the CO 2 -EOR flood so it remains within the limits of carbon balance neutrality and favorable economics under given prices and costs. The environmental performance and the main operational inputs (fluid production, CO 2 injection, and purchase requirements) were taken from a dynamic carbon Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study previously performed for a CO 2 -EOR site in Cranfield, Mississippi. The LCA study accounts for greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions within a gate-to-grave CCUS system boundary, considering four different CO 2 injection strategies and four gas separation processes. The economic performance assessment was made through a marginalist analysis (Marginalist Production Theory), which determines important technical and economic relations through basic differential calculus derived from production, cost, and income functions. This method allows to define the operational economic optimum (optimum profit). The assessment considers four CO 2 price scenarios and uses World Bank estimated oil prices. In a first step of the proposed methodology, environmental limits of the operation are estimated. These limits are then compared with operative maximum productivity as well as with the economic optimum. According to the methodology, the EOR operation is sustainable as long as the environmental optimum is greater, or lasts longer, than the economic optimum along the project’s life. Results show that for this operation and assumed parameters, CO 2 -EOR could be classified as a sustainable activity depending on the operator’s strategic decision-making. In the case study, all injection strategies reach the environmental optimum after maximum productivity is reached. As a result, only two strategies (continuous gas injection and water alternating gas) find their economic optimum within the environmental limits, fulfilling the defined necessary and sufficient condition for CCUS sustainability.

02 PETROLEUM↗

DOE OSTI2019

Carbon Life Cycle Analysis of CO 2 -EOR for Net Carbon Negative Oil (NCNO) Classification (Final Report)

This final report summarizes the work that was conducted to achieve the project’s general objective of developing a clear and repeatable methodology to determine whether the oil produced in a conventional CO 2 enhanced oil recovery (CO 2 -EOR) operation can be classified as Net Carbon Negative Oil (NCNO). The report also summarizes the reservoir mass accounting methodology and the monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) methodology, which are critical elements that support the general objective and were conceived as project goals. Because the purpose is to classify the EOR product (crude oil) and not the EOR project itself, and as the rate of crude oil production varies significantly with time, the methodology uses a novel dynamic carbon lifecycle analysis (d-LCA) that links instant energy demand and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to instant operational performance. The EOR operational performance is assessed through CO 2 utilization rates, which relate usage of CO 2 to oil production This dynamic method provides a better understanding of the evolution of the environmental impact (CO 2 emissions) and mitigation (geologic CO 2 storage) associated with an expanded carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) system, from start to closure of operations. The dynamic interplay between operational and environmental performance forms the basis of our CCUS technology analysis. The LCA part of the work is meant to complement previous NETL LCA work, and so it focused on EOR/storage efficiency, its variability through time, and the impact of this variability on LCA results. The environmental impact of the CCUS system was assessed for 3 system boundaries: (1) gate-to-gate, (2) gate-to-grave, and (3) cradle-to-grave. The environmental impact was also assessed considering the electricity displacement from other generation facilities. Another goal of our study was to use results to make recommendations on EOR field development strategies that are conducive to producing NCNO. Because field operational strategies have a significant impact on reservoir engineering parameters that affect both CO 2 storage and oil production (e.g., sweep efficiency, flood conformance, fluid saturation distribution), we conducted a scenario analysis that assesses the operational and environmental performance of four common and novel CO 2 -EOR field development strategies. Results show that all CO 2 -EOR evaluated scenarios start operating with a negative carbon footprint and, years into the project, transition into operating with a positive carbon footprint. Having achieved a result that proves that all CO 2 -EOR operations produce NCNO during the first years of production is critical in the context of the urgency of climate change mitigation. Transition points are significantly different in each scenario. ii In a cradle-to-grave CCUS system, if the capture facility displaces a conventional power source and credits are added for displacement, the adverse impact caused by the system expansion not only is reversed but transformed into a significant environmental benefit. The effect of the displacement more than compensates the emissions associated with the electricity generation requirements for the production of CO 2 , as much more electricity will be displaced. Results provide an understanding of the evolution of the system’s net carbon balance of all four field development strategies studied. This information can be useful to CO 2 -EOR operators seeking value in storing more CO 2 through a carbon credit program (e.g., the 45Q federal carbon credit program). Most importantly, this study serves as confirmation that CO 2 -EOR can be operationally designed to both enhance oil production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.

02 PETROLEUM↗

DOE OSTI2017

The U.S. Gas Flooding Experience: CO2 Injection Strategies and Impact on Ultimate Recovery

The Permian Basin in West Texas and southwestern New Mexico has seen 45 years of oil reserve growth through CO2 enhanced oil recovery (CO2 EOR). More than 60 CO2 EOR projects are currently active in the region’s limestone, sandstone and dolomite reservoirs. Water alternating gas (WAG) has been the development strategy of choice in the Permian for several technical and economic reasons. More recently, the technology started to get implemented in the much more porous and permeable clastic depositional systems of the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast. Continued CO2 injection (CGI), as opposed to WAG, was selected as the injection strategy to develop Gulf Coast oil fields, where CO2 injection volumes are significantly larger (up to 6 times larger) than those of the Permian. We conducted a compositional simulation based study with the objective of comparing the CO2 utilization ratios (volume of CO2 injected to produce a barrel of oil) of 4 conventional and novel CO2 injection strategies: (1) continuous gas injection (CGI), (2) water alternating gas (WAG), (3) water curtain injection (WCI), and (4) WAG and WCI combination. These injection scenarios were simulated using the GEM module from the Computer Modeling Group (CMG). GEM is an advanced general equation-of-state compositional simulator, which includes equation of state, CO2 miscible flood, CO2/brine interactions, and complex phase behavior. The simulator is set up to model three fluid phases including water, oil, and gas. Our study demonstrates how the selected field development strategy has a significant impact on the ultimate recovery of CO2-EOR projects, with GCI injection providing maximum oil recovery in absolute volume terms, but with WAG offering a more balanced technical-economical approach.

02 PETROLEUM↗

DOE OSTI2017

CO2-EOR:Approaching an NCNO classification

This presentation provides an overview of progress made under the sponsored project and provides valuable input into the following questions: 1. Is CO2-EOR a valid option for greenhouse gas emission reduction? 2. How do different injection strategies affect EOR's Carbon Balance? 3. What is the impact of different gas separation processes on EOR emissions? 4. What is the impact of the downstream emissions on the Carbon Balance?

CO2-EOR, Carbon Balance, Carbon Life Cycle of EOR,↗

DOE OSTI2017

Carbon balance of CO2-EOR for NCNO classification

The question of whether carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) constitutes a valid alternative for greenhouse gas emission reduction has been frequently asked by the general public and environmental sectors. Through this technology, operational since 1972, oil production is enhanced by injecting CO2 into depleted oil reservoirs in order displace the residual oil toward production wells in a solvent/miscible process. For decades, the CO2 utilized for EOR has been most commonly sourced from natural CO2 accumulations. More recently, a few projects have emerged where anthropogenic CO2 (A-CO2) is captured at an industrial facility, transported to a depleted oil field, and utilized for EOR. If carbon geologic storage is one of the project objectives, all the CO2 injected into the oil field for EOR could technically be stored in the formation. Even though the CO2 is being prevented from entering the atmosphere, and permanently stored away in a secured geologic formation, a question arises as to whether the total CO2 volumes stored in order to produce the incremental oil through EOR are larger than the CO2 emitted throughout the entire CO2-EOR process, including the capture facility, the EOR site, and the refining and burning of the end product. We intend to answer some of these questions through a DOE-NETL funded study titled “Carbon Life Cycle Analysis of CO2-EOR for Net Carbon Negative Oil (NCNO) Classification”. NCNO is defined as oil whose carbon emissions to the atmosphere, when burned or otherwise used, are less than the amount of carbon permanently stored in the reservoir in order to produce the oil. In this paper, we focus on the EOR site in what is referred to as a gate-to-gate system, but are inclusive of the burning of the refined product, as this end member is explicitly stated in the definition of NCNO. Finally, we use Cranfield, Mississippi, as a case study and come to the conclusion that the incremental oil produced is net carbon negative.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗