Enhanced oil recovery (EOR), sometimes known as "tertiary recovery," is a method of recovering oil that has not yet been recovered using primary or secondary methods. Although primary and secondary recovery procedures work by modifying the chemical composition of the oil to make it simpler to extract, improved oil recovery works by altering the chemical makeup of the oil itself.
How Enhanced Oil Recovery Works
Enhanced oil recovery procedures are complicated and costly, therefore they're only used after the primary and secondary recovery methods have run out of options. Indeed, depending on circumstances such as oil prices, EOR may not be cost-effective at all. In some circumstances, oil and gas may be left in the reservoir since extracting the remaining amounts is just not profitable.
Types of EOR Techniques
Gases are pushed forcibly into the well in the first procedure, forcing the oil to the surface while also reducing its viscosity. The less viscous the oil is, the easier it is to extract and the less expensive it is. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most common gas utilized in this process, while other gases can be used as well. Because recent breakthroughs have made it feasible to transport CO2 in the form of foams and gels, this specific application of carbon dioxide is expected to continue or even rise in the future. This might be a substantial improvement for some since it would allow CO2 injections to be used in regions distant from naturally occurring carbon dioxide reserves.
Pumping steam into the well to heat the oil and make it less viscous is another typical EOR technique. Similarly, "fire flooding," which is setting a fire around the border of an oil reservoir in order to force the remaining oil near to the well, can produce similar results.
Finally, to lower viscosity and boost pressure, different polymers and other chemical structures can be pumped into the reservoir, albeit these procedures are frequently prohibitively costly.
Using Improved Oil Recovery Techniques
EOR has the potential to extend the life of wells in proved or prospective oil resources, according to oil firms and experts. Proven reserves have a larger than 90 percent possibility of retrieving oil, whereas probable reserves have a greater than 50% chance of recovering petroleum. EOR procedures, however, can have significant environmental consequences, such as causing dangerous compounds to escape into groundwater. Plasma pulsing is a new method that might help lessen these environmental dangers. Plasma pulse technology, developed in Russia, involves radiating oil fields with low-energy emissions, decreasing their viscosity in the same way that standard EOR techniques do. Plasma pulsing may be less ecologically destructive than other existing oil recovery processes since it does not need pumping gases, chemicals, or heat into the earth.