A screening model for CO ₂ flooding and storage in Gulf Coast reservoirs based on dimensionless groups

Concerns over global warming have led to interest in removing greenhouse gases, specifically CO ₂, from the atmosphere. Sequestration of CO ₂ in oil reservoirs as part of EOR projects is one method being considered. The scaling groups necessary to describe CO ₂ flooding for a typical line-drive pattern are presented. These groups are used in a Box-Behnken experimental design to create a screening model most applicable to candidate Gulf Coast reservoirs. By generating oil recovery and CO ₂ storage curves, the model estimates the cumulative oil recovery and CO ₂ storage potential for a given reservoir. The dimensionless groups serve as the basis for a heuristic model capable of estimating oil recovery and CO ₂ storage potential for any given reservoir. The model uses response surface fits to estimate five parameters, i.e., four for oil recovery and one for CO ₂ storage. Each fit contains only six to eight terms, making the model simple to implement and easy to use in processing large databases of reservoir for attractive candidates. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 15th SPE-DOE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium: Old Reservoirs New Tricks A Global Perspective (Tulsa, OK 4/22-26/2006).