Shell, Statoil to use CO2 for enhanced oil recovery
March 24, 2006
Statoil and Shell have announced the world's first project to use sequestered carbon dioxide from a power plant to boost oil recovery offshore.
Offshore staff
(Norway) - Statoil and Shell have announced the world's first project to use sequestered carbon dioxide from a power plant to boost oil recovery offshore.
Statoil will build an 860-MW gas-fired power plant as part of the $1.4 billion project, as well as expand its methanol production facility at Tjeldbergodden near Trondheim, central Norway. CO2 from the power plant's exhaust gases will be sent via pipeline to Shell's Draugen and Heidrun offshore oil fields.
There is the potential to store as much as 2.5 million metric tons of CO2 annually in the two fields. Shell expects that the CO2 could raise oil output at the Draugen field by up to 85% and extend its life by five years.
The additional benefit for the power plant is the reduction of its emissions to close to zero. The project will be phased in from 2010 to 2012, and it will require substantial investment from the Norwegian government.
Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer says: "This is an important milestone for Shell toward our vision for greener fossil fuels with part of the carbon dioxide captured and sequestered underground."
