Weyburn

Project Overview

The Weyburn oil field, operated by EnCana, Canada’s largest oil company, is 130 km southeast of the city of Regina in Saskatchewan province. In 1997, the Dakota Gasification Company agreed to send all of the waste gas (96% CO2) from its lignite-fired Great Plains Synfuels Plant through a pipeline to the Weyburn oil field, with delivery beginning in September 2000. The Weyburn oil field has a total of 720 wells, drilled in a “9-spot” grid pattern, with eight producing wells in a square around an injection well. The CO2 is pumped into the injection wells, helping oil to flow toward active producer wells. It is predicted that the CO2-EOR operation will enable an additional 130 million barrels of oil to be produced, extending the field’s commercial life by approximately 25 years. It is also anticipated that about 20 million tonnes of CO2 will be injected and become permanently stored 1,400 m underground over the lifetime of this project. There is worldwide interest in this test of the viability of underground storage for large-scale reduction in CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Current cost of suquestration is $20 US / Tonne of CO2.

Project Type

Storage.

Location

Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Type of CO₂ Storage Operation

Enhanced Oil Recovery.

Major Stakeholders

Saskatchewan Industry and Resources
Alberta Energy Research Institute
U.S. Department of Energy
National Energy Technology Laboratory
The European Commission
National Resources Canada
IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme
BP
ChevronTexaco
Encana
Dakota Gasification Company
Nexen
Sask Power
Total
Engineering Advancement Association of Japan
TransAlta

Project Scale

Commercial.

Project Start Year: unknown

	2000

	3-5000 t/d
	2.7 Mt/a
	20 Mt

Project Cost

$20.5 million cash and $20.5 million in-kind (CDN funds) (Phase I only).

Project website