A Life Cycle Analysis of Incremental Oil Produced via CO2 EOR

Abstract

An integrated model was developed that quantitatively evaluates life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with CO 2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) where the CO 2 is captured from a coal-fired power plant. The model includes three segments to define a cradle-to-grave system: 1) upstream, 2) gate-to-gate, and 3) downstream GHG emissions. Results show that incremental oil produced from CO 2 EOR is a lower-carbon fuel, with an emissions factor lower than current U.S. domestic crude oil or any other oil source. Optimization scenarios based on the CO 2 capture rate and net utilization suggest that lower emission factors for incremental oil are possible.