Right now it is estimated that only about 40% of an oil reservoir can be extracted through conventional oil recovery techniques using pumps and water/gas injection methods.
Courtesy: Wikipedia
There is another recovery system that may be able to change that. It’s called Enhanced Oil Recovery technology (EOR). It is designed to extract the remaining oil from a deposit. It’s a gas (C02) injection technique which is gaining popularity because it reduces the viscosity of oil and improves its flow rate.
How important is this to the oil and gas industry? Well it’s estimated to have the potential to produce well over 60 billion barrels of oil in the North America.
But there is a problem. With the current low oil prices, the industry is tightening it’s financial belt and because the next generation CO2 EOR is expensive and requires substantial investment, it’s unlikely to occupy a permanent place in oil fields for a while.
(Source: Oilprice.com)
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