Saudi Aramco launches carbon capture pilot project

Aug. 6, 2015
Saudi Aramco reported the launch of a carbon capture and storage pilot project in an attempt to enhance oil recovery while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Aramco hopes the project, which it is calling the largest of its kind in the Middle East, will demonstrate enhanced oil recovery beyond the more common method of water flooding.

Saudi Aramco reported the launch of a carbon capture and storage pilot project in an attempt to enhance oil recovery while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Aramco hopes the project, which it is calling the largest of its kind in the Middle East, will demonstrate enhanced oil recovery beyond the more common method of water flooding.

The pilot project, which will be led by the company’s EXPEC-Advanced Research Center, entails the capture of 40 MMscfd of carbon dioxide at Hawiyah gas recovery plant to be piped 85 km to Uthmaniyah field where it will be injected into flooded oil reservoirs under high pressure for EOR (OGJ, Aug. 17, 2009, p. 44).

The pilot project is the latest in the company’s efforts to inject 800,000 tons/year of CO2 into flooded oil reservoirs. A monitoring system is in place to measure how much CO2 remains sequestered underground.

Over the next 3-5 years, the project will be studied by field engineers and researchers, and lessons learned from this project will be used at facilities and fields around the kingdom, Aramco said.