DOE GHG "Control" Plan Will Use CO2 To Pump More Oil From Aging Fields

[hatrack]

And then what will they do with the oil? Gee, let me think . . .

WASHINGTON - The US Energy Department said on Wednesday it would spend US$3 million to help fund an demonstration project in Alabama that will inject carbon dioxide (CO2) into a mature oil reservoir to push out more crude and also displace greenhouse gases.

The department said once the field is depleted, it could then be used to store carbon dioxide, instead of releasing the gas into the atmosphere and exacerbate global warming. The carbon dioxide injected into the oil field would act much like the C02 in a soda can when it fizzes and forces out liquid. In a field, the CO2 would thin the crude left behind, pressurize it, and move the oil to producing wells. The project, proposed by the University of Alabama in Birmingham, calls for flooding the state's Cintronelle oil field in Mobile County with CO2. The Cintronelle field is the state's largest oil producing field.

The department chose the field for the project because of its uniform geological structure and for the fact that the field has already been flooded with water to recover oil. But with so-called CO2 flooding, about 20 percent more of the oil originally in a reservoir can be recovered. At the Cintronelle field, the department said an extra 64 million barrels might be squeezed out using the technique.

When the all economically-recoverable oil is removed, the reservoir and adjacent formations can then become storage sites for C02 produced from the coal and natural gas burned at nearby power plants.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37992/story.htm

But first, let's GIT THAT OIL - we'll figure out the storage stuff later on. :eyes:

[patrice]

1. I've been wondering why they've been dragging their feet

about Global Warming. Because of the polar ice melting, it seems so obvious that something is going on.

This oil well technology explains quite a bit.

[Nihil]

2. The thing that gets me about all of this "sequestration" talk ...

... is the blind confidence that everything they pump down into
the ground will stay there indefinitely.

Consider the amount of thick black shit that makes an oil field
so delightful to visit. That is leakage, spillage, "oops"age
but at least it is black enough to spot and dense enough to sit
close to the point where it was left. There is also the smell
of the place giving a hint of how gas-tight the environment is
in day-to-day practice.

If you really want to, consider the sites where a major blowout
has occurred (even the non-explosive, non-flammable sort).
How far has the gunk spread?

Now consider that the leakage is a colourless odourless gas
that is slightly denser than air at NTC (but is emerging hotter).

Is this ringing any alarm bells for people? If not, why not?

The Energy Department are actively avoiding the blindingly obvious:
> The carbon dioxide injected into the oil field would act much like
> the C02 in a soda can when it fizzes and forces out liquid. In a
> field, the CO2 would thin the crude left behind, pressurize it,
> and move the oil to producing wells.

As every child will tell you, much of the point of drinking soda is
the fizzy taste ... fizzy because the CO2 is still in it!
In order to extract these last bits from an oilfield, the trade-off
is to willingly create "fizzy crude" that will transport a significant
proportion of the CO2 back out again into the atmosphere!

Finally, this isn't just about allowing the CO2 levels to creep even
higher whilst pretending to be solving the problem ... the seepage
issue is one thing but a blowout is far more deadly ... Lake Nyos
ring any bells for anyone?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/21/newsid_3380000/3380803.stm