Research

CCS world projects: Weyburn

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. The project, which started in 2000, is injecting 2 million tonnes of CO2 per year at a total cost of US$100 million. The implementation of the CO2 flood, along with the continued infill well development program, has resulted in a 65 per cent increase in oil production, or approximately 13,250 barrels since 2000. The 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 depleted gas field

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

status_header
2000

injectionrate_header
approx daily 3-5000 t/d
approx annual 2.7 Mt/a
total sequestration 20 Mt

  Additional Data  
  Depth of Injection Interval 1418 m
  Type of Reservoir Limestone/Dolomite
  Type of Seal Low perm chalk dolomite
  Distance Source to Sink 320 km

Method of CO2 Delivery

Pipeline from Dakota Gasification Company, Great Plains Synfuels Plant

Injected Gas Composition

96% CO2, 2.5% H2S

Project Cost

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

Project website



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