2018 EOR Survey in China-Part 2

This paper provides detailed field scale CO2-EOR survey in China. Part 1 has been orally presented in SPE organized Improved Oil Recovery conference held in 2018. All CO2-EOR field tests as well as two commercial application in China has been reviewed and summarized in detail. Lessons learned and opportunities in CO2-EOR are also introduced.

Since the first CO₂ huff-n-puff pilot was carried out in Daqing in 1963, 44 CO2-EOR field tests have been conducted in China. 26 have been conducted by SINOPEC, while 16 have been conducted by CNPC. 2 pilots have been conducted by the only local oil producer in China. The largest commercial CO2 flooding is in Jiling Oilfield, CNPC and the annual injection CO2 volume is 0.5 million tons. CO2 is from CO2 gas reservoir nearby. CO2 flooding in Daqing Oilfield (CNPC) is on semi-commercial or industrial stage, indicating that CO2-EOR is feasible. A large semi-commercial CO2 flooding project with 9 injectors and 38 producers in under construction after two well injectivity tests finished in 2018 in a ultra-low permeability reservoir in Changqing Oilfield (CNPC). The incremental oil recovery is predicted 15% OOIP, while the current field water flooding recovery is 18.5% OOIP. CO2 steam flooding pilot has been tested in Xinjiang Oilfield (CNPC) in January 2019 and annual CO2 injected is 100 000 tons captured from a factory. As for SINOPEC, CO₂ flooding in Huadong, Shengli, Zhongyuan are on commercial application stage. CO2 channeling and corrosion are problems to be solved. CO2 cost from chemical plants is as low as 140 RMB/ton. Oil production from CO2 flooding accounts for less than 1% of total EOR oil in China.

It is the first time that all CO2 EOR tests in China are surveyed in detail. Interest in CO2-EOR is increasingly rapidly recently in China.