Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 65 (2009) 129–138

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / p e t r o l

Research paper

CO2 sequestration through enhanced oil recovery in a mature oil field

A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani a,⁎, E.L. Ligero b, S.B. Suslick c,⁎
a
Program of Petroleum Sciences and Engineering — UNICAMP, Brazil
b
Center of Petroleum Studies — CEPETRO/UNICAMP, Brazil
c
Institute of Geosciences and Center of Petroleum Studies — CEPETRO/UNICAMP, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Recent advances in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology create new opportunities for CO2 sequestration.
Received 6 May 2007 This paper proposes a technical–economic model for underground storage of CO2 emitted by a fertilizer
Accepted 26 December 2008 industry in the Northeast of Brazil, in a hypothetical mature oil reservoir through EOR operation. Simulations
based on mass, energy and entropy balances, as well as economic analysis, were assessed for the process of
Keywords:
CO2 sequestration combined with EOR. This model takes into account the energy requirements for the whole
CO2 sequestration
mature oil reservoirs
CO2 sequestration process, as well as the emissions inherent to the process. Additionally, a breakdown cost
enhanced oil recovery methodology is proposed to estimate the main financial determinants of the integrated EOR with CO2
dynamic systems sequestration (costs of CO2 purchase, compression, transportation and storage). Project evaluation is derived
from a cash flow model, regarding reservoir production profile, price and costs, capital expenditures (CAPEX),
operating expenditures (OPEX), carbon credits, depreciation time, fiscal assumptions etc. A sensitivity
analysis study is carried out to identify the most critical variables. Project feasibility, as expected, is found to
be very sensitive to oil price, oil production, and CAPEX. Moreover, there is the contribution from the
mitigation of the greenhouse gas (GHG) by storing a significant amount of CO2 in the reservoir where it can
remain for thousands of years.
© 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction
CO2 sequestration is defined as the removal of gas that would be
emitted into the atmosphere and its subsequent storage in a safe,
sound place (Herzog and Golomb, 2004). CO2 sequestration can be
characterized in two ways: direct and indirect sequestration (Narula
et al., 2002). Direct sequestration occurs when the gas is captured in
the generation place before being emitted into the atmosphere, with
subsequent storage in either geologic formations or oceanic environ-
ments, for hundreds to thousands of years. On the other hand, in
indirect sequestration, the gas is captured after being absorbed in the
atmosphere. Such capture is through absorption in plants, carbon
fixation in soil or ocean uptake (e.g., ocean fertilization).
This paper considers the direct sequestration of CO2 through the
enhanced oil recovery operation. The process is divided into several
steps: capture, compression, transportation and storage or utilization.
One of the main advantages of this technology is that it can be diffused
without the necessity of fast and severe changes in the energy matrix
supply (Kaya, 2003).
There are several methods to separate and capture CO2 from
anthropogenic sources. The most known methods are absorption,
adsorption, membranes and cryogenics (Sasaki, 2004). Description
⁎ Corresponding authors. Suslick is to be contacted at Tel.: +55 19 35214579.
E-mail addresses: atgaspar@dep.fem.unicamp.br (A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani),
suslick@cepetro.unicamp.br (S.B. Suslick).
and details of such technologies are not in the scope of this paper, but
some interesting insights about different technologies can be found in
IPCC (2005) and Sasaki (2004).
Several studies dealing with the different options and means of
CO2 storage include the following alternatives: deep saline formations
(Bachu and Adams, 2003); oil and gas reservoirs (Stevens et al., 2001),
coalbeds (Hamelinck et al., 2002), ocean (Ametistova et al., 2002) and
forests (Lal, 2005).
Worldwide, there are many natural CO2 underground reservoirs;
several have existed for hundreds to thousands of years. Such
reservoirs are very similar to the natural gas reservoirs. The existence
of CO2 of natural occurrence proves that, under favorable circum-
stances, CO2 can be retained in certain types of structures during the
geologic timescale (Holloway, 2005). Additionally, many natural gas
reservoirs contain several quantities of CO2 mixed with other
hydrocarbon gases, confirming the integrity of containment of these
reservoirs, as well as oil reservoirs. Other means of storage, such as,
reforestation and oceans present as main disadvantages, the less
permanent storage and the unpractical costs, respectively.
Among these, CO2 disposal in oil reservoirs through enhanced oil
recovery (EOR) operations is one of the several ways that restrains
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere. Besides, this
option enables the utilization of fossil fuels as energy resources in a
more sustainable form. This option is highly attractive at today's high
oil prices. Under these circumstances, the best option seems to be the
oil reservoirs submitted to EOR operations because of their low cost,

0920-4105/$ – see front matter © 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.

doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2008.12.015
130 A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 65 (2009) 129–138
technological availability, or even due to the revenues from the
additional oil produced. Estimates of world storage capacity for this
type of reservoir are between 73.3 and 238.8 billion tCO2 approxi-
mately (Sasaki, 2004).
The main motivation of this work is the possibility to combine the
necessity of avoiding CO2 emissions with the possibility of increasing
oil production of a mature oil reservoir through gas injection. This fact
is relevant to society because it enables an improvement in the quality
of environment, helping in the reduction of greenhouse effect. Another
relevant factor is associated to the possibility of recovering residual oil,
prolonging the lifetime of the project and in this way, extending the
social benefits to local communities. Several regions, where operations
in mature fields exist, could be economic and socially benefited by
projects of this nature, such as for example, the Bahian Reconcavo, a
small basin located on the Northeast part of Brazil.
The aim of this paper is to provide a methodology to evaluate the
technical–economic feasibility of CO2 sequestration in EOR operations.
Emphasis has been placed on mass, energy and entropy balances,
using a dynamic system approach, as well as analysis of the economic
viability of sequestering CO2 in a typical mature Brazilian oilfield
through a study case.
This paper is organized as follows. The first section focuses on CO2
sequestration technologies. The next section presents the methodol-
ogy that combined system dynamics with economic analysis to
evaluate the performance of CO2 sequestration; the third section
presents an application on a mature Brazilian oil field and, in the next
section, the results are discussed followed by some considerations
regarding the technical and economic aspects of CO2 sequestration —
EOR in the final section.
2. CO2 EOR technology
Enhanced oil recovery is the process associated to the recovery of
additional oil to that naturally produced. Such recovery is performed
through the injection of fluids or other methods. There are several EOR
processes: chemical, thermal or that based on gas injection (EPRI,
1999). The focus of this work is the EOR process through a gas
injection miscible method.
EOR operations using CO2 as an injection solvent to improve oil
mobility have been practiced for more than 40 years, but only recently
have shown their potential as a means of sequestration (Klara and
Byrer, 2003).
CO2 is used in its supercritical form to extract more oil from mature
reservoirs through the EOR process. It displaces residual oil left in
place after primary production and secondary recovery. This kind of
operation is capable of recovering 6% to 15% of the original oil in place,
increasing the total oil production from 10% to 30% (Hustad and
Austell, 2003).
The main mechanisms associated to oil displacement by CO2
injection, related to the phase behavior of CO2–crude oil mixtures
include reduction in the viscosity of the original crude oil, high
solubility of CO2 in crude oil, reduction of oil density, vaporization of
intermediate components of the oil, reduction of CO2–oil interfacial
tension, reduction of water–oil interfacial tension, improvement of
reservoir permeabilities, control of pressure in the proximities of the
producer wells (Klins, 1984).
CO2 is introduced in an oilfield through a number of injector wells
perforated around a producer well. Although CO2 injection is frequently
associated with miscible processes, pure CO2 is not miscible with the oil
at typical reservoir pressures and temperatures (Orr and Taber, 1984).
The miscibility can be achieved in place through mass transfer of
components as a result of repeated contacts between oil and injected gas
during the flow, known as multiple contacts or dynamic miscibility
(Joshi, 2003). According to Klara and Byrer (2003), CO2 injected at a
pressure equal to or above the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP),
CO2 and oil mix and form a liquid that easily flows to the production well.
The advantage of using CO2 in EOR is that the pressure required for
achieving dynamic miscibility with it is lower than the pressure required
for dynamic miscibility with other gases, such as natural gas, flue gas or
nitrogen (Stalkup, 1984). Typically, injected gas compositions have
ranged from 97% to 99% purity and the impurities can be constituted of
N2, CH4, H2, etc. According to studies of the Bureau of Economic Geology
(Holtz et al., 2001), candidate reservoirs for CO2 — EOR are those in an
advanced stage of waterflooding. At this production stage, the major
mobile oil has already been produced and the significant volume of
remainder oil is that which cannot be produced without EOR (Holtz
et al., 2001). It is not the scope of this paper to present the performance
of the miscibility process but a demonstration of a technical and
economic approach to the CO2 sequestration EOR process as follows in
the next item.
3. Methodology: System dynamics and economic analysis
Forrester (1989) was one of the pioneers in the dynamic systems
approach and in the analysis of systems behavior. The term dynamics
refers to the system situation, which varies over time and it can be
interpreted as variations in the state of the system responding to
changes in input variables (Forrester, 1991).
According to Franklin (1995), life-cycle assessment was conceived
in the United States in 1970 as a system approach to evaluating
resource and energy use, along with the associated burdens created in
the air, water and land.
In the CO2 life-cycle analysis, it is possible to quantify the material
and energy consumption, emissions associated to the consumption of
energy in the sequestration/EOR steps of the life cycle and the
contribution to the mitigation of the greenhouse effect. Life-cycle
analysis of the CO2 sequestration combined with the EOR process can
be simulated using the system dynamics approach.
The methodology proposed in this work quantifies the engineering
variables, energy requirements and CO2 emissions, as well as costs and
revenues involved in the whole process from capture to storage, to the
technical–economic evaluation of the method. Fig. 1 shows a
schematic structure representing the methodology utilized. The
development of the system dynamics simulation was performed
using the STELLA® software (STELLA, 2001).1
A model of the CO2 sequestration operation was built to understand
the life-cycle process. It should be highlighted that this model is not
intended to substitute the classic EOR simulators, but is to evaluate the
extension and applicability of the tool with the few pieces of available
information. The economic analysis used a traditional discounted cash
flow.
3.1. Energy requirements
Energy requirements are estimated for compression, transporta-
tion and EOR through mass, energy and entropy balances. It is assumed
that CO2 is almost pure in the source not requiring significant amounts
of energy to purify the stream in the capture process. Then, the energy
requirements in the capture step can be neglected in this work.
3.1.1. Compression
In the compression step, the pressure of the CO2 exit stream or CO2
inlet pressure in the compressor and the pipeline (exit pressure from
the compressor) should be considered. The number of steps in the
compressor in the multistage compression process must be taken into
account, in addition to the knowledge of thermodynamic aspects such
as stationary, adiabatic and reversible process (an isentropic process),
as well as if there is intermediate cooling between steps, compressor
efficiency, and so forth. All this information is necessary, besides the
1
STELLA — Structured Thinking Experimental Learning Laboratory with Animation
(STELLA, 2001).
 A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 65 (2009) 129–138 131

realization of a mass balance of the “CO2 in the compressor” system,
and the application of the 1st and 2nd laws of Thermodynamics,
neglecting the kinetic and potential energies, to calculate the work
done on the system with the aid of a CO2 pressure–enthalpy diagram
entitled Mollier Diagram (Aartun and NTNU, 2002).
Thus, the energy requirement to compress the gas to the super-
critical state to be transported to the oilfield is considered here.
Because of the large pressure change, it is assumed that CO2 is
compressed in 3 steps in a stationary, adiabatic and reversible state,
from 40 psi2 and 50 °C to 1300 psi.
In order to realize the minimum work in the compressor, every
stage must have the same degree of compression. The optimum
compression ratio is calculated according to Eq. (1) (Geankoplis, 2003):
Pi =Pi − 1 = ðPn =P0 Þ1=n
In view of this, to evaluate the compression work, a CO2 pressure–
enthalpy diagram is used in order to obtain the gas-specific enthalpy
variation from suction to discharge.
The work for the cooling and dehydrating steps is also calculated.
The greater part of the water is removed in the first stages of
compression. Additionally, between each stage, a heat exchanger is
used in order to cool the CO2 to the initial temperature. In this way, the
operation approximates an isothermal process, i.e., the entrance
temperature is the same in every stage. It is important to mention that
work requirements in an isothermal process are less than in an
adiabatic one; therefore, cooling is useful in compressors. We assume
that there is no pressure drop during the cooling step. Thus, after
cooling, the CO2 stream temperature is approximately 50 °C. It is
assumed here that the compressor efficiency is 85%. Therefore, the
ð1Þ necessary energy to compress the CO2 to 1300 psi can be calculated.

where: 3.1.2. Transportation

In the transportation step, information about the diameter of the
n Number of stages; pipeline, the distance from the source to the oilfield, the rate of CO2,
Pn Discharge pressure; pump efficiency, the temperature and pressure of the fluid is
P0 Intake pressure; necessary, in order to calculate thermodynamic properties such as
Pi/Pi − 1 Compression ratio. the density and viscosity. With all this information, the velocity of the
fluid according to Eq. (8) can be calculated.
In the multistage compression, the discharge pressure of each
stage is the intake pressure of the next stage. v = Q=ð Ad ρÞ ð8Þ
Realizing mass, energy and entropy balances in the “CO2 in the
compressor” system and applying the 1st and 2nd laws of Thermo- where:
dynamics, admitting the above conditions and neglecting the kinetic
and potential energy change terms, the following simplified forms are v Velocity;
obtained: Q Mass flow rate;
Mass balance: A Pipe area;
: : ρ CO2 density.
M in + M out = 0 ð2Þ
: : : Considering a CO2 mass flow of 200 tCO2/day with a supercritical
M in = − M out = − M ð3Þ
density in the temperature and pressure conditions for transportation in
where: a 6″ pipeline, it is possible to calculate the fluid velocity through Eq. (8).
Thus, the Reynolds number (Eq. (9)) is calculated to determine
.
M. Mass flow rate; whether the fluid flow in the pipeline is laminar or turbulent.
M. in Mass flow rate entering the system;
Mout Mass flow rate leaving the system. Re = ρdvdd=μ ð9Þ

Energy balance: where:

: : :
M in Ĥ in + M out Ĥ out +W = 0 ð4Þ
Re Reynolds number (dimensionless);
: : 
W = M Ĥ out − Ĥ in ð5Þ ρ CO2 density;
v Velocity;
d Pipe diameter;
where:
µ CO2 viscosity.
Ĥ in Specific enthalpy entering the system;
Ĥ.out Specific enthalpy leaving the system; If Reb 2.100, the flow is laminar. Otherwise, if ReN 2.100, the flow is
W Work. turbulent.
Therefore, it is possible to find the Fanning friction factor in the
diagram based on Moody for a carbon-steel pipe, whose rugosity
Entropy balance:
: : factor is ε = 0.00015 ft. As can be seen in Perry et al. (1997), the Fanning
M in Ŝin + M out Ŝout = 0 ð6Þ factor should not be confused with the Darcy friction factor used by
Moody, which is four times greater. After this, the pressure drop in the
Ŝout = Ŝin ð7Þ pipeline can be calculated by Eq. (10):
where:
ΔP = 2d f d ρd v2 d L=d ð10Þ
Ŝ in Specific entropy entering the system;
Ŝ out Specific entropy leaving the system. where:

ΔP Pressure drop;
f Fanning friction factor (dimensionless);
2
It is assumed in this case study this high suction pressure corresponds to the ρ CO2 density;
discharge pressure from the capture step. v Velocity.
132 A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 65 (2009) 129–138

Fig. 1. Methodology flowchart — system dynamics and economic analysis.

L Length of the pipe; fuel consumed to generate electricity, since fossil fuels, responsible for
d Pipe diameter. the greenhouse gas effect, are used for power-generation. Therefore, it
is possible to calculate the direct and indirect emissions during the
Finally, the work for transportation is estimated according to the EOR operation. In this paper, the emissions resulting from the use of
Bernoulli Eq. (11): the product by the final consumer are also considered.
The CO2 emission factor is assumed to be 51 kgCO2/GJ, based on the
W = ΔP=ρ ð11Þ consumption of fuel for the electricity production in the project
region. The CO2 emission factor for steam is equal to 62 kgCO2/GJ.
where:
3.3. CO2 storage
ΔP Pressure drop;
ρ CO2 density.
Just a part of the total CO2 injected in the reservoir is effectively stored
The pump efficiency is considered to be 60%.
inside it. This quantity is easily calculated from a storage factor considering
the project lifetime. Part of the injected CO2 that is not stored in the
3.1.3. Enhanced oil recovery
reservoir is produced with the oil and re-injected in the reservoir.
The work in the EOR step is quantified with the help of some data from It is possible to estimate the contribution to the environment by
the literature. These data encompass the fluid extraction from the wells, considering the quantity of CO2 utilized in this project and whose
separation of the fluid from the produced gases, breakthrough, compres- emission to the atmosphere was avoided, besides the quantification of
sion for injection and re-injection, pumping the product to the market, emissions and storage.
treatment and re-injection of produced water, etc. According to EPRI
(1999), CO2 EOR consumes approximately 5 hp per barrel of oil per day. 3.4. Economics of CO2 sequestration with EOR

3.2. CO2 emissions This section presents an economic analysis to evaluate the
feasibility of sequestering CO2 during EOR operations. For this
The quantification of CO2 emissions during the process requires analysis, the methodology described by Gaspar et al. (2005) is used.
considering possible CO2 leakages from some equipment, besides the A cash flow was made considering the revenues from the sale of
 A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 65 (2009) 129–138 133

Table 1 sector, (4) Emissions resulting from Sequestration/EOR sector, (5)

Reservoir technical and economic characteristics and fiscal assumptions Leakage sector, (6) Storage sector and (7) Emissions resulting from the
Original oil in place (MMbbl) 38 Final Product Sector. Fig. 2 shows the stock-flow structure of the CO2
Field area (km2) 12 supply sector. The input conditions for each sector of the model are
Injection rate (tCO2/day) 200 listed in Table 2.
Storage rate (%) 50
The sector shown in Fig. 2 presents the components as stocks,
Oil production (bbl/yr) 182,500
CO2 consumption per bbl (tCO2/bbl) 0.4 flows and converters related to the capture process from the
Useful life (yr) 20 anthropogenic source (ammonia production industry), the injection
Oil price (U.S.$/bbl) 35 rate in the reservoir, CO2 stock in the oil reservoir, recycle and leakage.
Discount rate (%) 12
Fig. 3 illustrates the energy consumption sector, comprising every step
Corporate tax (%) 25
Special taxes on gross revenues (%) 3.65
of the process.
Royalties (%) 5 The calculation of CO2 emissions should be based on the type and
Rental area (U.S.$/km2) 300 quantity of the fuel used. Fig. 4 presents the sector of emissions,
Investments in treatment (MMUS$) 6 indicating the elements involved and its respective energy contents.
Investments in compression (MMUS$) 5
The flux of CO2 emissions in the EOR process consists of the
Investments in transportation (MMUS$) 9
Investments in storage (MMUS$) 1 multiplication of the consumed energy in every step and the specific
Costs of abandonment (MMUS$) 1.1 emission of the consumed fuel, i.e., the CO2 content in the fuel
Cost of CO2 purchase (US$/tCO2) 12 previously presented in Table 2.
Opex of compression (US$/tCO2) 7.5 According to IPCC (2006), the CO2 content in crude oil is
Opex of transportation (US$/tCO2) 0.5
Opex of storage (US$/tCO2) 3
approximately 73 tCO2/TJ. In addition, as reported by BEN (2005),
the energy content of an oil barrel is 5.95 GJ. In this way, assuming that
refined products present the same energy content as crude oil, the
additional oil produced from EOR, revenues from possible CO2 credits component CO2 emission factor per barrel of oil produced is
owing to sequestration, investment costs, CAPEX, OPEX and taxes approximately 0.436 tCO2. Thereby, it is possible to calculate the
according to Brazilian fiscal regime. The project net cash flow is emissions caused by the final product usage.
estimated annually using the simplified relation presented by Eq. (12). Fig. 5 shows the graphical interface of the variable CO2 balance and
The net present value is derived from the cash flow. A sensitivity analysis its respective flows. The variable represents the magnitude of CO2 in
study can also be carried out to identify the most critical variables. the atmosphere during the process of CO2 sequestration /EOR. The

variable CO2 balance is the result of the balance of CO2 inflows and
NCF = R + CCO2 − Roy − ST − OPEX − IW − D d ð1 − T Þ + D − CAPEX ð12Þ outflows according to Eq. (13). It is assumed that the variable CO2
balance is approximately null in the instant t = 0.
where:
CO2 Bðt Þ = CO2 Bðt −dt Þ + ðCO2 epu + CO2 eEOR + CO2 v −CO2 sÞd dt ð13Þ
NCF Net cash flow;
R Gross revenue; where:
CCO2 CO2 credits;
Roy Total amount paid in royalties; CO2B(t) CO2 balance at time t;
ST Social tax, directly charged over gross revenue; CO2B(t − dt) CO2 balance at time t − dt;
OPEX Operational cost in the considered year; CO2epu CO2 emitted due to the final oil product usage;
IW Investment accounted as costs; CO2eEOR CO2 emitted in the EOR process;
D Total depreciation; CO2v CO2 vented;
T Corporate tax rate; CO2s CO2 stored in the reservoir.

CAPEX: Sum of all investments (except IW). It is considered linearly
depreciable in 10 years.
4. Case study
The proposed methodology for quantification of CO2 sequestration,
coupled with EOR in a mature oil field, was applied to a hypothetical small
mature oil field from the Reconcavo Basin located on the Northeastern
region of Brazil, where CO2 injection is carried out. The injection rate is
200 tCO2 per day, over the period of 20 years. Technical and economic
data on the project and fiscal assumptions are given in Table 1.
5. Simulation results and discussion
The methodology for CO2 sequestration/EOR calculation is applied
in this section. It is important to emphasize that the proposed
methodology does not replace the traditional reservoir simulator
methods used in petroleum engineering.
5.1. Technical model
The system presented here consists of seven sectors, namely: (1)
CO2 supply sector, (2) Oil production sector, (3) Energy consumption
Table 3 summarizes the results of the relevant variables of the CO2
sequestration/EOR process over the lifetime. The model simulation
indicates that the EOR project contributes to reduce the GHG
emissions released by several energy-consuming industrial processes.
Reusing gas that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere and
injecting it in supercritical state in the reservoir contributes to a
reduction of approximately 37% in the variable CO2 balance, resulting
in 925,000 tCO2 after 20 years (Table 3). This amount accounts for all
the emissions inherent to the process, as well as the CO2 storage in the
reservoir, the emissions caused by the petroleum-derived product
usage, and still considering that approximately 1.46 MMtCO2 would be
emitted into the atmosphere if not used in this simulated project.
Table 3 shows that 3.650 MMbbl will be produced while
0.733 MMtCO2 will be stored in the oil reservoir. This operation is
very intensive in energy usage; approximately 1.159 PJ and 11.6 TJ of
electricity and heat, respectively, will be consumed throughout the
project lifetime.
Concerning CO2 storage, the net storage per barrel produced was
also analyzed using STELLA® software (storage discounting the energy
requirements and total process emissions).
It is assumed that the injection of 0.40 tCO2 is needed to produce 1 bbl
of oil. The injected quantity depends on the reservoir characteristics. From
this necessary quantity, 0.20 t remains in the reservoir, whereas the rest
134 A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 65 (2009) 129–138

Fig. 2. CO2 supply and life cycle of CO2 in the reservoir.

comes out with the crude oil. Notwithstanding, the net quantity of CO2 Using the same approach, the sensitivity analysis of CO2 balance as
stored per barrel of oil produced is approximately 0.18, since CO2 is a function of the storage factor, assuming oil as an energy source,
emitted because of the energy demand (a quantity of approximately 0.02 t shows a reduction of 30% and 80% in CO2 balance, for a storage factor
is emitted per bbl of oil produced). This is in agreement with the literature, of 0.495 and 0.99, respectively, whereas, for a storage factor of 0.00,
as can be seen in Table 4. As stated by Wilson et al. (2000), approximately there is an increase of 19% in that variable. A sensitivity analysis of CO2
0.15 tCO2 is stored for every bbl produced, while Espie (2000) related a balance as a function of recycle rate indicates that the greater the
value of 3.3 bbl of oil for every tCO2 stored in the region of the North Sea, recycled CO2, the lesser the quantity emitted into the atmosphere. The
i.e., 0.3 tCO2 per barrel of oil. According with Stalkup (1984), the net values indicate that for a recycle ratio of 10%, the CO2 balance is
quantity of four field experiments ranged between 0.18 and 0.78 tCO2/bbl. 1.57 MMtCO2, while for recycle ratios of 54.5% and 99%, the magnitude
Gross ratios are twice greater. is 1.24 MMtCO2 and 0.925 MMtCO2, respectively.
Sensitivity analyses in the model have been carried out. Some
input data of major interest were ranged and, thus, the impacts caused 5.2. Economic analysis
by changes were tested. Fig. 6 presents a sensitivity analysis of the
component CO2 balance when the storage factor is varied. As The maximum financial exposure occurred at the beginning of the
expected, the greater the storage factor, the lesser the CO2 balance, project, mainly because of the high investments. However, payback
i.e., the more CO2 stored in the reservoir, the less CO2 in the occurred in the sixth year, which can be considered relatively early
atmosphere. Regarding storage factors of both 0.495 and 0.99, a when compared to that of the oilfield project lifetime. The Net Present
reduction of 36% and 86% of CO2 in the atmosphere is obtained. In Value (NPV) before taxes is MMUS$ 13.95 (US$ 3.82/bbl), while NPV
contrast, an increase of 14% would be obtained if there were no including CO2 credits is MMUS$ 16.67 (US$ 4.57/bbl) for a production
storage. of 3.65 MMbbl over 20 years. The NPV, regarding the government take
Interacting with the control panel, a switch device is used in order (NPV after all taxes), was MMUS$ 6.98 (US$ 1.91/bbl). It should be
to observe the impact of the fuel on the variable CO2 balance. Fuel oil is highlighted that if CO2 credits were not discounted, it would be a gain
used as fuel instead of natural gas, which is used in the base case for of US$ 860,000 in the effective NPV, resulting in MMUS$ 7.84 (US$
generation of electricity. 2.15/bbl). A comparative analysis of the magnitude of the NPV is given
in Fig. 7.
The NPV is a result of the future cash flows under a static scenario.
Since the future is uncertain, the NPV may be considered as a random
Table 2
Input data for the base case reference model
variable, so that the confidence level in its mean value is not absolute.
Uncertainties in the key parameters, such as oil price, carbon credits
Parameter Initial amount market, oil production, CAPEX and OPEX were evaluated through a
Anthropogenic source (MMtCO2) 1.640 sensitivity analysis. Graphs for every input variable were obtained to
CO2 in reservoir (MMtCO2) 0
assess the planning, considering the economic optimization of the CO2
CO2 produced with oil (MMtCO2) 0
CO2 leakage (MMtCO2) 0 sequestration combined with EOR.
Storage factor 0.5 For the sensitivity analysis of NPV, the selected variables were
Recycle rate 0.99 submitted to a range of 50% of its original input values. The sensitivity
Oil reserve (MMbbl) 37
of NPV was analyzed in relation to the oil price, oil production, CAPEX,
CO2 consumption per bbl (tCO2/bbl) 0.4
CO2 injection rate (tCO2/day) 200
OPEX of compression, transportation and storage, as well as the cost of
Compression factor (MJ/tCO2) 270.54 CO2 purchase and the CO2 credits. The uncertainties of oil price and oil
Cooling factor (MJ/tCO2) 8 production followed by CAPEX play an important role in the
Drying factor (MJ/tCO2) 8 economics of the total CO2 sequestration/EOR process. However, in
Transportation factor (MJ/tCO2) 1.25
this hypothetical case, because of the limited range of the considered
Reservoir factor (MJ/tCO2) 517.16
CO2 content in natural gas (tCO2/TJ) 51 values, the cost of CO2 purchase, CO2 credits and OPEX of compression,
CO2 content in water (tCO2/TJ) 0 transportation and storage were isolated and submitted to another
CO2 content in fuel oil (tCO2/TJ) 73 sensitivity analysis.
CO2 content in coal (tCO2/TJ) 95
The results showed that the variables cost of CO2 purchase
CO2 content in steam (tCO2/TJ) 62
followed by CO2 credits are significant and an increase in their values
 A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 65 (2009) 129–138 135

Fig. 3. Energy consumed in the CO2 sequestration/EOR process.

results in an increase in NPV. Under these circumstances, the
sensitivity of NPV to these variables can be exemplified as follows:
an increase of US$ 1.00 in the oil price may result in an increase of
MMUS$ 1 in the base-case NPV. Meanwhile, a reduction of MMUS$
1.00 in the CAPEX would result in an increase of approximately US$
860,000 in NPV. An increase of US$ 1.00 in the CO2 credits value would
result in an increase of approximately US$ 187,000.
In addition, a risk analysis was carried out to simulate the
performance of uncertain variables. The input variables to the risk
analysis are oil price, CO2 injection rate, discount rate, storage rate and
operating costs of treatment, compression, transportation and
storage. The range of variation of the aforementioned input variables
is through probabilistic distribution. For instance, uncertainties in the
oil price and discount rate are modeled using a lognormal distribution,
while storage rate is modeled using a normal one. In turn, triangular
distribution (min, most likely, max) was used for the following
parameters: storage rate, cost of CO2 purchase and OPEX of
compression, transportation and storage.
Results from this simulation show a frequency distribution,
illustrated in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the NPV has wide amplitude,
varying between MMUS$ − 15.00 and MMUS$ 40.00. It can be
observed that there is an approximate risk of 30% that the NPV be
negative, which can be considered high or even low, depending on the
risk tolerance from the decision maker. This figure gives important
information. For example, there is a probability of approximately 10%
that NPV be greater than MMUS$ 25.00. In contrast, there is a 90%
probability that NPV be less than MMUS$ 25.00.
Additionally, for a more detailed analysis, the NPV cumulative
probability function can be considered in relation to specific variables
such as cost of CO2 purchase, CO2 credits and OPEX of each step of the
sequestration process. Results highlight two variables: CO2 purchase
cost and CO2 credits. Considering the first one, the amplitude of NPV
varies from MMUS$ 3.00 to MMUS$ 5.50. In the latter case, the
variation is between MMUS$ 5.50 and MMUS$10.00. The variable,
which presents higher risk, is the cost of CO2 purchase because it is
closer to NPV when it approaches zero. The remainder of the variables

Fig. 4. CO2 emissions resulting from the process.

136 A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 65 (2009) 129–138

Fig. 5. CO2 balance and its respective flows.

(OPEX of each step of CO2 sequestration) cause low impact on the 6. Conclusions
NPV, because of the low amplitude, presenting consequently, lower
risk. CO2 sequestration is an important tool to control greenhouse gas
emissions into the atmosphere. The study of CO2 utilization from a
fertilizer industry in EOR projects in the Reconcavo Basin region
showed that it is possible to store a significant amount of CO2
Table 3 underground while still allowing the continued use fossil fuels.
Behavior of components of CO2 sequestration EOR over the time The main obstacles to the implementation of CO2 sequestration
technologies are the high costs associated. However, the increase in
Time CO2 balance CO2 in Cumulative oil Electricity Heat
(days) (MMtCO2) reservoir production consumed consumed
knowledge and experience levels, as well as the contribution of new
(MMtCO2) (MMbbl) (PJ) (TJ) technologies in the field of CO2 sequestration will probably reduce
0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 such costs. In addition, another barrier is the lack of incentives or
365 0.043 0.040 0.183 0.058 0.584 credits system in many countries to support the long-term investment
730 0.090 0.076 0.365 0.116 1.168 made by companies in CO2 sequestration.
1095 0.136 0.113 0.548 0.174 1.752
The high costs can be minimized by combining CO2 sequestration with
1460 0.183 0.149 0.730 0.232 2.336
1825 0.229 0.186 0.913 0.290 2.920 enhanced oil recovery, owing to the revenues from the recovery of extra
2190 0.275 0.222 1.095 0.348 3.504 oil, which can help to offset the costs of the CO2 sequestration process. In
2555 0.322 0.259 1.278 0.406 4.088 addition to the costs, a life-cycle analysis of CO2 in the whole CO2
2920 0.368 0.295 1.460 0.464 4.672 sequestration/EOR process has fundamental importance to quantify the
3285 0.415 0.332 1.643 0.522 5.256
energy requirements, the direct and indirect emissions and the effective
3650 0.461 0.368 1.825 0.579 5.840
4015 0.508 0.405 2.008 0.637 6.424 storage in the reservoir.
4380 0.554 0.441 2.190 0.695 7.008
4745 0.600 0.478 2.373 0.753 7.592 Table 4
5110 0.647 0.514 2.555 0.811 8.176 CO2 storage efficiency in EOR operations
5475 0.693 0.551 2.738 0.869 8.760
5840 0.740 0.587 2.920 0.927 9.344 Storage efficiency (tCO2/bbl) Reference
6205 0.786 0.624 3.103 0.985 9.928 0.18 Result of this research
6570 0.833 0.660 3.285 1.043 10.512 0.15 Wilson et al. (2000)
6935 0.879 0.697 3.468 1.101 11.096 0.30 Espie (2000)
7300 0.925 0.733 3.650 1.159 11.680 0.18–0.78 Stalkup (1984)
 A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 65 (2009) 129–138
Fig. 6. Sensitivity analysis of CO2 balance as function of storage factor.
Fig. 7. Project NPV alternatives.
It was noted that some variables are relevant to minimize energy
usage, as in the compression and transportation steps, thus resulting
in fewer emissions and lower costs. In the compression step, a high
CO2 entrance pressure in the compression process requires less
energy. Obviously, in this way, the lower the pressure at the exit of the
compressor, i.e., the injection pressure in the reservoir, the less energy
will be required.
Fig. 8. Cumulative probability of net present value.
137
It is worth mentioning that not all the CO2 injected remains stored
in the reservoir. Some returns with the produced oil, and then is
submitted to a separation process and re-injected into the reservoir.
From the amount stored in the reservoir, the quantity of energy
required to maintain all the process should be considered, from the
capture step in the anthropic source of emissions, comprising the
storage step up to the usage of the final products. In this work, a
dynamic model was developed to simulate the behavior of the CO2
sequestration/EOR system over the time. The model takes into
consideration the energy requirements of the whole sequestration
process.
The model developed shows that, despite the EOR process being
highly energy intensive, the volume of emissions is much lower than
the process contribution to the mitigation of the greenhouse gas. Thus,
the advantage of the EOR operation as a means of sequestration can be
assumed, since it permits the continuing use of fossil fuels in a
sustainable form.
As expected, the sensitivity analysis indicated that the amount of
CO2 in the atmosphere diminishes with the increase of the storage
factor. In view of this, the importance of studies aiming to optimize
strategies to maximize CO2 storage with the same or even increased
oil production can be noted.
The impact of the recycle rate in the variable CO2 balance was also
analyzed. For instance, without recycling, all CO2 produced along with
the oil would be separated and vented into the atmosphere.
In relation to the economic analysis of the oilfield utilized as the
study case, results indicate that the oil price, oil production and CAPEX
138 A.T.F.S. Gaspar Ravagnani et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 65 (2009) 129–138
play an important role in project feasibility. The sensitivity analysis
indicates that higher oil prices can stimulate investments in CO2
sequestration, allied to EOR projects. In this simulation, the value of
CO2 credit can be considered small, not influencing the NPV strongly. It
is observed that with enhanced oil recovery operation, even without
credit incentives, CO2 sequestration is economical. However, high
values of CO2 credits would have a significant impact on the project.
Oilfield operators could earn good returns sequestering CO2 in
reservoirs if the value of credits would increase substantially. CO2
sequestration could be economically feasible if the costs were reduced
and the carbon credits increased. Additionally, new market mechan-
isms are necessary to provide investments in new technologies.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank CAPES, CNPq, and CEPETRO/
UNICAMP the financial support.
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