Houston, Texas, Tuesday, December 13, 2005

The Permian Basin in West Texas has seen a long history of CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Over 65 sandstone, limestone, and dolomite reservoirs have been subject to miscible CO2 floods in the last 30 years. Recent studies indicate a resource target of 4.5 BSTB of miscible floodable oil. The current economic and environmental situation now favors extending this recovery process to the much more porous and permeable clastic depositional systems in the Gulf of Mexico. Proximity to anthropogenic CO2 sources, enabling reduced costs and infrastructure, and the petrophysical character of these sandstones are just two of the many attributes that showcase the Gulf Coast formations as an attractive option for this type of tertiary recovery.

This one-day seminar targeted Gulf Coast oil operators to introduce the concept of reserve growth potential from miscible CO2 flooding. The seminar will introduce the current research applicable to Gulf Coast CO2 miscible flooding. Current CO2 markets and market drivers will be discussed. The character of the oil resource base will be described along with geologic controls on CO2 injectivity. There will be a review of the fundamentals of CO2 miscible flooding and possible new CO2 sources will be highlighted. The seminar will close with a summary review of past CO2 tests on Gulf Coast oil reservoirs, highlighting approaches and results.