 | This article needs to be updated.(September 2019) |
The Weyburn-Midale Carbon Dioxide Project (or IEA GHG Weyburn-Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project) was, as of 2008, the world's largest carbon capture and storage project. [1] It has since been overtaken in terms of carbon capture capacity by projects such as the Shute Creek project and the Century Plant. [2] [3] It is located in Midale, Saskatchewan, Canada.
The IEAGHG Weyburn-Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project is an international collaborative scientific study to assess the technical feasibility of CO2 storage in geological formations with a focus on oil reservoirs, together with the development of world leading best practices for project implementation. The project itself began in 2000 and runs until the end of 2011 when a best practices manual for the transitioning of CO2-EOR operations into long-term storage operations will be released.
The research project accesses data from the actual CO2-enhanced oil recovery operations in the Weyburn oil field (formerly operated by Cenovus Energy of Calgary before its Saskatchewan operations were sold to Whitecap Resources in 2017 [4] ), and after the year 2005 from the adjacent Midale field (operated by Apache Canada). These EOR operations are independent of the research program. Cenovus Energy's only contribution to the IEAGHG Weyburn-Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project was to allow access to the fields for measurement, monitoring and verification of the CO2 for the global scientists and researchers involved in the project.
The Weyburn and Midale oil fields were discovered in 1954 near Midale, Saskatchewan.
The Weyburn Oilfield covers an area of some 52,000 acres (210 km2) and has a current oil production rate of ~3,067 m3/day. Original oil-in-place is estimated to be 1.4 billion barrels (220,000,000 m3). The oil is produced from a total of 963 active wells made up of 534 vertical wells, 138 horizontal wells, and 171 injection systems. There are also 146 enclosed wells. Current production consists primarily of medium-gravity crude oil with a low gas-to-oil ratio.
The Midale oil field is about 102 square miles (260 km2) in size, and has 515 million barrels (81,900,000 m3) of oil-in-place. It began injecting CO2 in 2005.
Various enhanced oil recovery techniques were used in the Weyburn field prior to the introduction of CO2, between the 1970s and 1990s. These include additional vertical drilling, the introduction of horizontal drilling, and the use of waterfloods to increase pressure in the reservoir. In October 2000, Cenovus (formerly Pan Canadian, Encana) began injecting significant amounts of carbon dioxide into the Weyburn field in order to boost oil production. Cenovus was the operator and held the largest share of the 37 current partners in the oilfield prior to the sale of local assets to Whitecap in 2017. [4]
Initial CO2 injection rates in the Weyburn field amounted to ~5,000 tonnes/day or 95 million scf/day (2.7 million m3/d); this would otherwise have been vented to the atmosphere from the Dakota Gasification facility. At one point, CO2 injection by Cenovus at Weyburn was at ~6,500 tonnes per day. Apache Canada is injecting approximately 1,500 tonnes/day into the Midale field.
Overall, it is anticipated that some 40 Mt of carbon dioxide will be permanently sequestered over the lifespan of the project in the Weyburn and Midale fields. The gas is being supplied via a 320 kilometre mile long pipeline (completed in 1999) from the lignite-fired Dakota Gasification Company synfuels plant site in Beulah, North Dakota (See attached image). The company is a subsidiary of Basin Electric Power Co-operative. At the plant, CO2 is produced from a Rectisol unit in the gas cleanup train. The CO2 project adds about $30 million of gross revenue to the gasification plant's cash flow each year. Approximately 8000 tonnes/day of compressed CO2 (in liquid form) is provided to the Weyburn and Midale fields via the pipeline.
During its life, the Weyburn and Midale fields combined are expected to produce at least 220 million additional barrels of incremental oil, through miscible or near-miscible displacement with CO2, from a fields that have already produced over 500 million barrels (79,000,000 m3) since discovery in 1954. This will extend the life of the Weyburn field by approximately 20–25 years. It is estimated that ultimate oil recovery will increase to 34% of the oil-in-place. It has been estimated that, on a full life-cycle basis, the oil produced at Weyburn by CO2 EOR will release only two-thirds as much CO2 to the atmosphere compared to oil produced using conventional technology.
This is the first instance of cross-border transfer of CO2 from the US to Canada and highlights the ability for international cooperation with GHG mitigation technologies. Whilst there are emissions trading projects being developed within countries such as Canada, the Weyburn project is essentially the first international project where physical quantities of CO2 are being sold commercially for enhanced oil recovery, with the added benefit of carbon sequestration.
The First Phase of the IEAGHG Weyburn CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project (the Midale oil field did not join the research project until the Final phase research) which began in 2000 and ended in 2004, verified the ability of an oil reservoir to securely store CO2 for significant lengths of time. This was done through a comprehensive analysis of the various process factors as well as monitoring/modeling methods designed to measure, monitor and track the CO2. Research was conducted into geological characterization of both the geosphere (the geological layers deeper than near surface) and biosphere (basically from the depths of groundwater up). As well, prediction, monitoring and verification techniques were used to examine the movements of the CO2. Finally, both the economic and geologic limits of the CO2 storage capacity were predicted, and a long-term risk assessment developed for storage of CO2 permanently in the formation.
A critical part of the First Phase was the accumulation of baseline surveys for both CO2 soil content, and water wells in the area. These baselines were identified in 2001 and have helped to confirm through comparison with more recent readings that CO2 is not leaking from the reservoir into the biosphere in the study area.
The Final Phase of the IEAGHG Weyburn-Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project is utilizing scientific experts from most of the world's leading carbon capture and storage research organizations and universities to further develop and build upon the most scrutinized CO2 geological storage data set in the world. The project's major technical research "themes" can be broadly broken out into four areas:
Technical Components:
Ultimately, the goal of the final phase of the project is to produce a best practices manual that can be used by other jurisdictions and organizations to help transition CO2-EOR operations into long-term storage projects. The research of the project's final phase should be complete in 2011, with the Best Practices Manual issued before the end of that year.
A report [5] of CO2 leaks above the project was released in January 2011 [6] by an advocacy group on behalf of owners of land above the project. They reported ponds fizzing with bubbles, dead animals found near those ponds, sounds of explosions which they attributed to gas blowing out holes in the walls of a quarry. The report said that carbon dioxide levels in the soil averaged about 23,000 parts per million, several times higher than is normal for the area. "The ... source of the high concentrations of CO2 in the soils of the Kerr property is clearly the anthropogenic CO2 injected into the Weyburn reservoir... The survey also demonstrates that the overlying thick cap rock of anhydrite over the Weyburn reservoir is not an impermeable barrier to the upward movement of light hydrocarbons and CO2 as is generally thought." said the report. [7]
The PTRC posted an extensive rebuttal of the Petro-Find report, stating that the isotopic signatures of the CO2, claimed by Mr. Lafleur to be indicative of the manmade CO2 being injected into the reservoir, were in fact, according to studies of CO2 conducted by the British Geological Survey and two other European Union geological groups prior to CO2 being injected at Weyburn, occurring naturally in several locations near the Kerr farm. Subsequent soil surveys after injection in 2002 to 2005 found CO2 levels dropped in these same regions. In addition, prior to injection occurring into the oil field, these samplings were found to be as high as 125,000 parts per million and averaging 25,000 ppm CO2 across the region, even more than the average and largest readings from the Kerr's property that were being claimed as unusually high. The report also questions, based on seismic imaging conducted over ten years, that any active faults exist or that the caprock is compromised to allow pathways for the CO2 to reach the surface. [8] The PTRC acknowledged that they do not monitor the entire site for leaks, rather primarily above the part of the Weyburn field where CO2 is injected and key locations outside it, but the organization did monitor the Kerr's well between 2002 and 2006, finding no appreciable difference in water quality. [9] They have also acknowledged that PTRC is a research organisation rather than a regulator, and manage the IEA GHG Weyburn-Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project on behalf of the International Energy Agency's Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, which includes some 30 international research groups. [10]
Gas reinjection is the reinjection of natural gas into an underground reservoir, typically one already containing both natural gas and crude oil, in order to increase the pressure within the reservoir and thus induce the flow of crude oil or else sequester gas that cannot be exported. This is not to be confused with gas lift, where gas is injected into the annulus of the well rather than the reservoir. After the crude has been pumped out, the natural gas is once again recovered. Since many of the wells found around the world contain heavy crude, this process increases their production. The basic difference between light crude and heavy crude is its viscosity and pumpability—the lighter the crude the easier it is to pump. Recovery of hydrocarbons in a well is generally limited to 50% and 75–80%. Recycling of natural gas or other inert gases causes the pressure to rise in the well, thus causing more gas molecules to dissolve in the oil lowering its viscosity and thereby increasing the well's output. Air is not suitable for repressuring wells because it tends to cause deterioration of the oil, thus carbon dioxide or natural gas is used to repressure the well. The term 'gas-reinjection' is also sometimes referred to as repressuring—the term being used only to imply that the pressure inside the well is being increased to aid recovery.
Coal pollution mitigation, sometimes labeled as clean coal, is a series of systems and technologies that seek to mitigate health and environmental impact of burning coal for energy. Burning coal releases harmful substances, including mercury, lead, sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon dioxide (CO2), contributing to air pollution, acid rain, and greenhouse gas emissions. Methods include flue-gas desulfurization, selective catalytic reduction, electrostatic precipitators, and fly ash reduction focusing on reducing the emissions of these harmful substances. These measures aim to reduce coal's impact on human health and the environment.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process in which a relatively pure stream of carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial sources is separated, treated and transported to a long-term storage location. For example, the carbon dioxide stream that is to be captured can result from burning fossil fuels or biomass. Usually the CO2 is captured from large point sources, such as a chemical plant or biomass plant, and then stored in an underground geological formation. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus mitigate climate change. The IPCC's most recent report on mitigating climate change describes CCS retrofits for existing power plants as one of the ways to limit emissions from the electricity sector and meet Paris Agreement goals.
Enhanced oil recovery, also called tertiary recovery, is the extraction of crude oil from an oil field that cannot be extracted otherwise. Although the primary and secondary recovery techniques rely on the pressure differential between the surface and the underground well, enhanced oil recovery functions by altering the chemical composition of the oil itself in order to make it easier to extract. EOR can extract 30% to 60% or more of a reservoir's oil, compared to 20% to 40% using primary and secondary recovery. According to the US Department of Energy, carbon dioxide and water are injected along with one of three EOR techniques: thermal injection, gas injection, and chemical injection. More advanced, speculative EOR techniques are sometimes called quaternary recovery.
Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. Carbon sequestration is a naturally occurring process but it can also be enhanced or achieved with technology, for example within carbon capture and storage projects. There are two main types of carbon sequestration: geologic and biologic.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) flooding is a process in which carbon dioxide is injected into an oil reservoir to increase the output when extracting oil. This is most often used in reservoirs where production rates have declined due to depletion.
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The milestones for carbon capture and storage show the lack of commercial scale development and implementation of CCS over the years since the first carbon tax was imposed.
Cenovus Energy Inc. is a Canadian integrated oil and natural gas company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta.
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The Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Injection Project is part of the Gorgon Project, one of the world's largest natural gas projects. The Gorgon Project, located on Barrow Island in Western Australia, includes a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, a domestic gas plant, and a Carbon Dioxide Injection Project.
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Whitecap Resources is a Canadian public oil company based in Calgary, Alberta, with operations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. In 2018, it produced 74,415 barrels of energy per day, with 85% of production consisting of crude oil and other liquids. It is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
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B8 is a major oil field in the Polish exclusive economic area of the Baltic Sea about 70 km north of Jastarnia. The field was discovered in 1983 and started producing oil in 2006. The field currently accounts for four per cent of Poland’s oil production.