Cleaner way to get more oil

"Trinidad and Tobago, on a global scale, is unique in a remarkableway," Agard said.
"We are in a position to inject the CO2 underground into depletedoil reservoirs. In our situation we are one of two small islanddeveloping states that are net exporters of energy. We can injectthe CO2 and at the same time increase the reservoir pressure sothat we could get more oil."
He added, "What the experts say is that in our 100 years of oilproduction, we have only taken out of the ground about a quarter orso of the oil that is under the control of Trinidad and Tobago."
His suggestion comes at a time when the country is moving from anoil-based economy to that of a gas-based one. However, it requiressix times as much gas to get the same revenue as oil. For instance,120,000 barrels of oil produced can obtain US$3 billion in revenue,while it would take 705,000 barrels of oil equivalent (gas) toproduce US$4 billion in revenue.
Dr Agard then made reference to bpTT CEO Robert Riley's statementthat the country was not benefiting from the high oil pricesbecause of a low oil production level.
"If we inject CO2 underground and increase the reservoir pressure,we can recover more barrels of oil and in this way more revenue canbe obtained," he said.
"I suggest that with the increased revenues, Government shouldlegislate to have an alternate energy fund. We need to putalternate energy in place."
The EMA chairman, who was recently promoted to the position of aprofessor at the University of the West Indies, used theopportunity to again dismiss claims that a reduction of GHG wouldhave a negative impact on the development of the country.
"I disagree with the Prime Minister who said more than once thatthere is a fear that protection of the environment would slow downdevelopment," he said.
"Both are possible and I think we can have rapid development andreduce the Green House Gases as well. Environmental sustainabilityis an integral part of development."
CO2 recovery projects
first implemented in the 1970s
Carbon Dioxide injection is not something new for Trinidad andTobago, as projects were implemented in the early 1970s in ForestReserve due to the availability of a large source of CO2 at PointLisas.
UWI's Petroleum Engineering senior lecturer, Clyde Abder, has doneextensive research in CO2 oil recovery methods, testing it himselfback in the 80s and 90s.
"Since then the industry has tried it in better productive wellswith very similar results in terms of increasing production ratesand increasing total recoveries," he explained to the Express atthe Trinidad and Tobago Petroleum Conference in February this year.
Abder said at least 60 per cent of the Carbon Dioxide injected isretained in the well.
"So that is one way of getting rid of the Carbon Dioxide," he said.
"You inject it into the reservoir and some of it naturally staysthere. Some of it actually helps you to produce more oil and toproduce the oil faster. Also at the end of a productive life of areservoir, when you cap those wells and close down that reservoirthat CO2 is more likely to stay underground for hundreds of years."
Local firm to start
CO2 sequestration
Taking a lead in the use of CO2 injection for oil recovery inTrinidad is the KPA Group of Companies.
Headed by Dr Krishna Persad, who has been working in the oilindustry since 1970, KPA will be launching its project by the endof the month in Barrakpore.
"We have acquired a sub-license from Petrotrin for a field inBarrackpore," he said.
"There are 14 wells in the field and we are hoping to start a pilotof five by the end of this month. It will then be expanded to therest of the field."
Dr Maharaj said none of the wells are producing at the moment, butthe others will have to be rehabilitated before the CO2 injectionis done. The CO2 is being acquired from the country's ammoniaplants, the largest producer of CO2 in Trinidad, which is also thelargest exporter of ammonia.
"We are about to start a CO2 enhanced recovery programme whichwould involve getting CO2 from the ammonia plant in Point Lisas,"he said.
"In order to transport it we will be doing liquefaction first. Justhow you take natural gas, cool it and liquefy it you can do thesame thing to CO2. Later on we hope to build a pipeline which willallow us to deliver larger quantities of CO2 to our fields andother fields."
After the acquisition of the CO2, the first process will besimulation, then "we will do a more intensive programme called anenhanced oil recovery programme using CO2".
He said after the initial start of the project, it could take amonth to six weeks to see the outcome.