Current Status of Enhanced Oil Recovery Projects Using Carbon Dioxide (EOR CO2) in Croatia †

Abstract

The application of carbon dioxide (CO2) in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects is becoming increasingly more interesting in the petroleum industry because it can boost oil production rates while potentially reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The injected CO2 causes oil swelling and viscosity reduction, making it easier to flow through the reservoir fractures. This article studies the performance of the first EOR CO2 project in Croatia, which started operations in 2014 with a capacity of 0.41 million tons per year (Mtpa). The CO2 source is a natural gas processing plant, which released the CO2 into the atmosphere prior to the EOR project. Now, this CO2 is continuously captured, compressed, transported, liquefied, and injected into the EOR fields of Ivanić and Žutica. Tertiary (EOR) oil recovery at these two oil fields is expected to raise the oil recovery factors up to 55% from the previously achieved 9% in the primary stage and 36% in the secondary stage. Besides the EOR project, this article reviews other carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects in Croatia, for the cement industry, power generation, and biofuel production. All these projects combined could bring the total CCUS capacity up to 1.843 Mtpa by 2030.