Item talk:Q58897

Play-level distributions of estimates of recovery factors for a miscible carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery method used in oil reservoirs in the conterminous United States

In a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study, recovery-factor estimates were calculated by using a publicly available reservoir simulator (CO₂ Prophet) to estimate how much oil might be recovered with the application of a miscible carbon dioxide (CO₂) enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method to technically screened oil reservoirs located in onshore and State offshore areas in the conterminous United States. A recovery factor represents the percentage of an oil reservoir’s original oil in place estimated to be recoverable by the application of a miscible CO₂-EOR method. The USGS estimates were calculated for 2,018 clastic and 1,681 carbonate candidate reservoirs in the “Significant Oil and Gas Fields of the United States Database” prepared by Nehring Associates, Inc. (2012).

This report presents distributions of estimated recovery factors organized by plays in seven U.S. regions. The distributional parameters for plays containing at least three candidate reservoirs are presented in tables, and parameters for plays containing at least six candidate reservoirs are presented in boxplots. Over all the reservoirs evaluated, 90 percent of the recovery-factor estimates for clastic reservoirs fell within the range from 8.7 to 16.2 percent, and the median value of the distribution was 9.5 percent. Similarly, 90 percent of the recovery-factor estimates for carbonate reservoirs were within the range from 11.8 to 27.5 percent, and the median value of the distribution was 13.6 percent. Both distributions were right skewed.

The retention factor is the percentage of injected CO₂ that is naturally retained in the reservoir. Retention factors were also estimated in this study. For clastic reservoirs, 90 percent of the estimated retention factors were between 21.7 and 32.1 percent, and for carbonate reservoirs, 90 percent were between 23.7 and 38.2 percent. The respective median values were 22.9 for clastic reservoirs and 26.1 for carbonate reservoirs. Both distributions were right skewed. The recovery and retention factors that were calculated are consistent with the corresponding factors reported in the literature.

Table of Contents

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Calculation of Reservoir-Specific Recovery Factors and Net CO₂ Utilization
• Distributions of Recovery Factors and Estimates of Net CO₂ Utilization
• Summary and Conclusions
• Acknowledgments
• References Cited