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Carbon dioxide flooding may help resurrect old oil wells

LAWRENCE -- When it comes to drilling for oil, Alan Byrnes believes the third time may be the charm.

Byrnes and other researchers in the Tertiary Oil Recovery Project at the University of Kansas are experimenting with carbon dioxide flooding, a procedure that could improve the state's oil production and make the United States more energy self-sufficient. That, in turn, might eventually help maintain lower oil prices.

Carbon dioxide flooding allows wells to be tapped a third time, recovering a significant amount of oil that is not retrievable through traditional methods.

Currently, oil wells are pumped in two phases. After the second phase, no more oil can be extracted, although anywhere from 35 to 50 percent of the oil remains underground. With carbon dioxide flooding, an additional 25 percent of that oil can be extracted, said Byrnes, who is also an assistant scientist at the Kansas Geological Survey, based at KU

How does it work?

As its name implies, the procedure consists of pumping a liquid form of carbon dioxide into a set of injection wells. The carbon dioxide mixes with and pushes the oil in the reservoir to producing wells, where it can be extracted.

The process brings a great deal of promise during a time in which drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is being considered. Still, Byrnes said carbon dioxide flooding alone would not solve all of the problems associated with our tightest energy crunch in three decades.

"While there is more petroleum in the world than we currently have access to, we are using it at a rapid rate," he said. "We still have several decades worth of it left, but we need to use that time to develop the next generation of energy sources."

If all goes as planned, the researchers could begin flooding in a demonstration project by October, with the earliest results coming the following year.

However, there are some factors that have to be taken into consideration for the carbon dioxide flooding to work, he said.

First and foremost is the availability of the carbon dioxide. While some carbon dioxide will be shipped into the state from a pipeline in Guymon, Okla., Byrnes said the first demonstration project in Kansas would probably get its carbon dioxide right here in Kansas.

Through a $5.4 million grant from the Department of Energy, with matching funds from KU and industry, the KU researchers are looking into the possibility of garnering the carbon dioxide from an ethanol plant in Russell.

Not only would the plant's carbon dioxide help with oil production, it would also help cut down on the plant's emissions and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

"If we do use the plant's CO2 and put it back into the subsurface, we're naturally going to improve the situation," Byrnes said. "It's not enough to solve the greenhouse problem, but it is a positive step and it will help us significantly in terms of oil production."