<Open thread The Oil Drum I wish I didn't have to be the wet blanket>

18 comments on A visual demonstration of channeling

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mw on September 24, 2005 - 10:24pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Does anyone have knowledge of CO2 recovery? Useful tool? Too-high expectations?

One of the companies I follow closely - EnCana, has had a test going on for some years now in Saskatchewan; I've been to the plant but know precious little as to how useful using CO2 to aid recovery will be, other than it has obvious appeal to countries who are trying to meet Kyoto obligations (Canada is one).

Have been meaning to float the question for a while, was reminded by this piece on the G7/G8 meeting:

(incidentally, the original G7 came together thanks to the OPEC oil crisis 30 years ago... perhaps Pres. Ford invited Canada into the group for a reason -- prior to the USSR/Russia joining the G7 officially or unofficially, Canada would have been the only country able to be a net oil exporter. Today, only Russia and Canada are.)

http://www.dose.ca/ottawa/news/story.html?s_id=QycEAjLDJ64TssMmWOFYqgHLobPAe9IdC9xb1vy4p6vn%2bXpWqzv y8Q%3d%3d

Canada Tackles Oil
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Innovations that extend oil field lifespans by decades and extract more from oil sands are Canada's contribution to boosting world crude supply, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale said on Saturday.

Goodale told Reuters that he touched on these issues in a presentation to Group of Seven counterparts at a formal meeting on Friday and, with high oil prices plaguing economies around the world, his colleagues paid close attention.

"This positions Canada very strategically on energy supply issues," Goodale said in an interview.

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Heading Out on September 24, 2005 - 11:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
There has been some discussion here about CO2 injection in the past.  I believe that one of our industrial advisors and I have some disagreement about this, that will probably show up in a debate some months from now as we reach that point in the technical talks that come out on Saturdays.  It is quite a lot more technically challenging than it might appear, and costs are a major part of this.  A lot of what has been done in the past has used geological sources for the CO2, but to make it work we have to change to using the output from power stations and the like.  It can be done, it won't be simple, but it has a very large potential.
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mw on September 25, 2005 - 10:24am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
In Alberta they seem to be getting closer and closer to an agreement that would build a CO2 pipeline and system to deliver the stuff. My guess is that it is EnCana driving a lot of this - they invested in the technology early on and have something of a track record of leadership in unconventional techniques. Their CEO, Gwyn Morgan, also walks to the beat of a slightly different drummer - he's the sort of person who I can see driving the building of such a consortium through.

Alberta is a rather perfect test case for this - you've got the considerable CO2 emissions from the oil sands projects, which are only going to get bigger and are created in a relatively small area proximity wise, so collection seems practical, it must be the 'twinning' of pipelines back to the well head which will be costly and time consuming.

The players all have oil sands projects (EnCana is an 'in-situ' oil sands extractor):

Alberta firms study ways to ship, sell CO2

CALGARY -- Major players in the oil sands of northern Alberta are in talks to form a consortium to turn carbon dioxide emissions from hot air into cold cash.

EnCana Corp., Shell Canada Ltd. and Suncor Energy Inc. are all part of the discussions, aimed at setting up a co-operative effort to capture, transport and sell carbon dioxide from the oil sands. Those discussions are still in their early stages, but the group is examining options to create the infrastructure to ship carbon dioxide southward, and find customers.

Oil sands projects, particularly mining operations, emit a large volume of carbon dioxide, but a specialized pipeline would be needed to transport that gas hundreds of kilometres to the mature oil fields of central Alberta, where it could be injected underground and used to push more crude to the surface.

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18 comments on A visual demonstration of channeling

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