Regina 鈥� At times, it has looked like Saskatchewan鈥檚 leading stance in the geologic storage of carbon dioxide, as well as its implementation in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), wasn鈥檛 gaining much traction worldwide. But that may be changing.
In late February-early March, Sinopec, one of China鈥檚 national oil companies, sent a large delegation to Saskatchewan for two weeks to learn about what we are doing here (see related story Page A2).
But south of border, there may be some impetus to pursue this strategy as well. And if similar strategies were adopted here, it could have impacts in southeast Saskatchewan.
Erik Nickel and Norm Sacuta of the Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC) in Regina spoke to Pipeline News on Feb. 8.
Sacuta, who handles communications with the PTRC, noted that recent changes in American law, specifically one called 45Q, are having significant implications south of the border. Those changes, brought in under President Donald Trump鈥檚 major tax reform, involve credits of $30 per tonne for carbon dioxide used in enhanced oil recovery.
As such, there鈥檚 a new term 小蓝视频 used these days. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is now 小蓝视频 referred to in some circles as carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). Those tax changes may have profound impact on the viability of using carbon dioxide in EOR schemes, and could revive projects that have stalled.
So what鈥檚 the future of CO2-EOR?
鈥淭he future is very much up to government and government policy,鈥� said Erik Nickel, director of operations, with the Regina-based Petroleum Technology Research Centre. He鈥檚 been working with CO2 since 1999, when he worked on characterizing the Weyburn Unit. He did his masters degree on it.
聽鈥淚f CO2 is deemed an effective mitigation strategy for greenhouse gases, the sky鈥檚 the limit. Personally, from a research standpoint, I think we鈥檝e done a lot of work to prove that it is a viable mitigation technique. What we are looking for is uptake from governments to put in place things like 45Q or other incentives to utilize CO2.鈥�
If something like 45Q was implemented in Canada, Nickel thinks we could see the implantation of CCS on the Shand Power Station and other coal-fired power plants, and the building of a CO2 trunk line throughout southeast Saskatchewan, with a ramp-up of CO2 injection in a lot of the Mississippian oilfields in the region.
鈥淎s it stands, Weyburn has proven it is an effective technique, not only for EOR, but for mitigation,鈥� he said.
Much of those Mississippian oilfields can literally be seen from the top of the Shand smokestack, that鈥檚 how close they are to the potential CO2 source. Nickel, who is a professional geologist by trade, said that the Steelman field is an obvious candidate, but it could be used along that trend into the Pinto field. The Bakken, with known low recovery rates, could also potentially benefit. Waterflood and methane re-injections are 小蓝视频 used in the Bakken. Based on preliminary studies, CO2 looks promising.
As a producing field, Nickel noted, 鈥淭he Bakken didn鈥檛 even exist when Weyburn was first coming online in 2000. Nobody was talking about the Bakken at that time.
鈥淲hat can鈥檛 be understated is the amount of preparation it would take. It鈥檚 not like you could take CO2 out of Shand and then boom! There鈥檚 pipelines and boom! Everybody鈥檚 using it. There鈥檚 a lead time. What these companies have to do to de-risk it is pilot studies, to ensure the CO2 will work. They鈥檙e not going to spend $2 billion on something that will probably work. They鈥檝e got to know that it鈥檚 going to work.
鈥淲hat the PTRC can do is help them de-risk those assets, with planning and pilot studies.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not something that would happen overnight, but when we look back 20 years from now, it could be huge,鈥� Nickel said.
At the 2018 Williston Basin Conference, North Dakota鈥檚 governor boldly predicted that his state would reach 2 million barrels per day of oil production, up from the 1.2 million bpd at the time (a year later, the state has now reached 1.4 million bpd). He said they would reach 2 million bpd that by utilizing every CO2 source possible from lignite coal production in the state, and North Dakota could even become a CO2 importer.
Nickel said, 鈥淥nce they start having to write the cheques to put the capture on these plants, that鈥檚 where the rubber meets the road. Saskatchewan is one of the few jurisdictions that had the guts to actually do it. To me, that鈥檚 incredibly impressive that we were able to complete this. Of course, there鈥檚 going to be controversy and naysayers over what is one of the first of its kind in the world 鈥� a lignite coal plant with post-combustion capture. They just don鈥檛 exist. If it was to happen on Shand, we could very well see a CO2 economy in Saskatchewan develop. Not overnight, but whereby CO2 is priced at a rate where oil production makes sense and mutually beneficial.鈥�
He noted that coal, in Saskatchewan, is very low cost, and while natural gas may be cheap right now, it may not always be that way.
鈥淚 think we have a really ideal setup, in southeast Saskatchewan, where we can build this out as an example of larger scale CCS,鈥� Nickel said.聽
