Polymer-EOR Worldwide Potential Contribution to Reducing CO2 Emissions

The anthropogenic CO2 emissions and global warming pose a significant threat and challenge to the oil industry. Frequently, the industry claims that emissions in oil production are a lot less than in other segments of the chain value. While that may be true, it does not mean they are neglectable.

This paper proposes the generalizations and low, mid, and high scenarios needed to estimate the worldwide CO2 emissions due to aqueous flooding projects. The potential emission reduction if polymer flooding projects replace Waterflooding was calculated.

The mid scenario, 80% water cut, yielded the following results:

1. Worldwide Waterflooding (WF) injection: 312.5 million barrels per day
2. Worldwide CO2 emissions by WF projects: 0.24 million tons per day
3. Replacing WF with polymer flooding reduces the emission by up to 64.5%

That confirms that CO2 emissions from Waterflooding are significant. Polymer flooding can reduce them by up to 80%, depending on the scenarios compared. It has the additional advantages of production acceleration and increased recovery with lower water production that must be treated and disposed of.