New US Chamber report advocates more aggressive use of EOR

December 3, 2012

Oil and Gas Journal

Nick Snow

Wider use of enhanced oil recovery in the US could contribute significant additional revenue to the federal budget, a new report by the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy suggested.

“At a time when lawmakers are seeking to avoid falling off the fiscal cliff, increasing energy production and the resulting government revenue, jobs, and economic growth should be at the top of the agenda,” said Karen A. Harbert, the Energy Institute’s president.

“We’ve chosen to highlight carbon dioxide EOR because broader usage of this proven technology could be one of the next big things in energy production, bringing trillions of dollars in new government revenue to our coffers while reducing oil imports,” she explained.

The Nov. 27 report said that a US Department of Energy analysis projects that EOR could economically recover 67 billion bbl of oil, assuming a price of $85/bbl. That would translate into $1.4 trillion in new government revenue, as well as billions of dollars in private investment, it indicated.

More aggressive EOR use in the US also would benefit the environment, Harbert added. “EOR will increasingly utilize carbon dioxide that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere, while generating additional oil production from fields that are in decline,” she said.

“While CO2 EOR shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for new production, it is another valuable tool that should be fully realized in our quest to become more self-reliant,” Harbert maintained.

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