CO₂ Storage from Lab to On-Shore Field Pilots Using CO₂ -Foam for Mobility Control in CCUS

CLIMIT-R&D project 249742 granted in 2015, which targets pilot experiments with CO₂ foam on oil fields in Texas, forms the background for the project applied for. New technology developed at the University of Bergen uses anthropogenic CO₂ together with mobility control using foam in increased oil recovery processes (EOR). This is an economically sustainable solution for CO₂ storage. Conventional CO₂-EOR does not have sufficient earnings for global industrial interest in CO₂ storage. The new technology improves the earning capacity of the petroleum industry in increased oil recovery. The use of CO₂ foam increases oil production and stores more CO₂ than with conventional CO₂ injection, reduces operating costs and provides more efficient oil displacement.

The pilot for which support is sought from CLIMIT-Demo is a SAG injection at short intervals, ie rapid SAG (Surfactant-Alternatoing-Gas) injection for CO₂ storage, while the other tests are planned with either CO₂ injection or longer SAG intervals. New laboratory results indicate greater storage capacity with fast SAG and the project therefore wants to have this tested on a large scale in the field. In order to map the impact of foam injection in the reservoir, more pilots are needed. The project includes a limited pilot, where UiB personnel and students will be physically present during the pilot, which the project sees as a prerequisite for carrying out the field operations, based on experience from NFR / Climit 249742.

This pilot will use results from NFR / Climit 249742 to determine the effect of CO₂ foam injection after the end of CO₂ flooding. Previous results from this project have given the project manager a good 3D geological model and they have had history adapted to both water flooding and CO₂ injection. The project manager has also predicted CO₂ foam flooding using numerical simulation, but here existing industrial simulators are not reliable, so piloting could help improve numerical models for more reliable predictions of water and oil displacement for increased CO₂ storage. Laboratory results have shown that an efficient water displacement can be beneficial in addition to the oil displacement, the project manager has experimentally obtained carbon-negative oil recovery during increased CO₂ storage.

More than 160 core tests performed at UiB show that the earlier foam is injected, the more CO₂ will be stored and the more oil will be produced. This provides uniquely better economic conditions for the industry to participate in CO₂ storage, as foam injection enables economic earnings during CO₂ storage.

The project’s goal is to verify the effect of rapid SAG on oil fields in Texas