An Integrated CCS Approach Combining CO2 Injection EOR and Underground CO2 Storage

Summary CO2 Capture and Storage is a mainstream topic due to the increasing greenhouse gas issue and the need for green energy policies. Additionally, the oil price crash asks for improved recovery factors from brown oil reservoirs by means of EOR techniques such as miscible CO2 injection. Modern trends require that CCS is combined to EOR in unified reservoir management projects aiming at capturing CO2 from point sources and injecting it to achieve miscible flow conditions. The CO2 flood is followed by production stop and additional CO2 injection so as to maximize gas storage. Designing such projects is not a trivial task as possible overestimation of the oil reservoir capability to store CO2 might have an enormous economic impact both to the power plant operator and the reservoir operator. A road map is needed to minimize the risks while maximizing the CCS approach benefit. In this work we discuss the steps followed in the detailed design and optimization of such integrated projects involving two-fold CO2 storage. The strategy is applied to a moderate size oil field in the Kavala basin in Northern Greece. The procedure utilized, the storage results achieved and the anticipated economic impact of the venture are presented.