How to promote zero-carbon oilfield target? A technical-economic model to analyze the economic and environmental benefits of Recycle-CCS-EOR project

Nowadays, environmental problems caused by petroleum industries need to be alleviated urgently for the transit to low-carbon oilfields. Carbon Capture & Storage-Enhanced Oil Recovery (CCS-EOR) is effective to increase oil production while reducing carbon emissions, but few studies evaluated the cyclic projects that connect capture and injection inside the oilfield. Aiming at Recycle-CCS-EOR (RCE) project, this study proposes a comprehensive technical-economic model to analysis the economic and environmental benefits, considering the uncertainties of geological conditions, prices, and CO2 injection volume. Taking six blocks in real-world oilfields as the example, this model simulates four scenarios under different CO2 acquisition methods and carbon taxes. The results show that the breakeven oil price of RCE is 29.4 $/barrel for carbon tax and 25.6 $/barrel for no tax. The recommendable CO2 injection volume of RCE is higher than 33.5% HCPV for tax and 22.8% HCPV for no tax. Under the current range of CO2 market price, RCE is more profitable when the capture investment is less than 80.9 M$ for carbon tax and 40.7 M$ for no tax. Compared with traditional EOR production, RCE project reduces carbon emissions by about 54.7%, indicating its technical feasibility, economic and environmental advantages in practical engineering. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study evaluates the economic and environmental benefits of the Recycle-CCS-EOR project through simulations of four scenarios in real-world oilfields. The results demonstrate its significant profitability potential and advantages in reducing carbon emissions.