CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery

Core Energy currently operates the only CO₂ Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) projects in Michigan and the only commercial EOR project east of the Mississippi using anthropogenic or captured CO₂. Research indicates CO₂-EOR is a proven and increasingly cost-attractive technology for boosting oil production in maturing fields, and EOR operations pose a much smaller risk than conventional oil exploration because EOR uses reservoirs that have been proven historical producers. In 2008, Michigan produced its one millionth barrel of oil from CO₂-EOR; this is oil that would not otherwise have been produced. Michigan could potentially recover in excess of 25 percent of additional oil with a much improved Greenhouse Gas profile due to the captured CO₂ being injected into the oil and gas fields and not into the atmosphere, thus we think of it as Green Oil. In order to produce these barrels, Michigan needs additional sources of CO₂ which are strategically placed near oilfields suitable for EOR.

Primary Recovery is the first stage of hydrocarbon production, in which natural reservoir pressure moves the hydrocarbons from the reservoir, into the well bore, and up to the surface. Generally, Primary Recovery only yields 30-35% of the total oil in place. This means that 65-70% of oil is left in the ground! Enhanced Oil Recovery or EOR operations allow another 10-15% of the total oil in place to be produced. After Primary Recovery, the natural pressure that was in the reservoir needs to be replaced in order for the reservoir to continue to produce. Core Energy performsC O₂-EOR by injecting, or "flooding", one or more wells in a field with compressed CO₂ removed from the Antrim Shale. The CO₂ becomes dissolved (miscible) in the crude oil and both causes the oil to swell and reduces it viscosity - which drives and enables the oil to move more freely through the rock formation toward the oil recovery wells. 

Using compressed CO₂ for EOR has many benefits. First, it lets Michigan produce more oil that would have otherwise been imported. Second, the oil recovery helps to pay for the cost of capturing and building the transformation infrastructure necessary to sequester more CO₂, making the process more economical. Most importantly, oil produced from CO₂-EOR is net 70% carbon free as compared to conventional oil, making oil produced through EOR much more Eco-friendly than conventionally produced oil. If all of the oil used in the United States were produced from EOR sources, the net amount of CO₂ released into the atmosphere would be 6 million metric tons less PER DAY!

There are currently more than 136 CO₂-EOR projects in the U.S. producing approximately 300,000 barrels of oil per day. Within the Midwestern Governors Association member states, there is an estimated CO₂-EOR potential of more than 6.3 billion barrels of oil, which would require approximately 7.5 billion metric tons of CO₂ between now and 2030. This reserve potential represents one-third of the total remaining primary reserves in the U.S.