Adnoc readies carbon capture and injection for use at oilfields

Visitors talk near the Adnoc stall at Adipec. Silvia Razgova / The National

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company will soon start full implementation of the use of carbon capture as part of plans to boost oil production at its fields while freeing up much-needed natural gas in the recovery process, a company official said.

“We are trying to reduce reliance of gas for our oil production, so we are getting into CO2 injection for EOR [enhanced oil recovery],” said Omar Al Suwaidi, Adnoc’s deputy director for strategy and coordination, on the sidelines of Adipec.

Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco) had “already successfully completed the [pilot] project. Offshore companies are doing the same. We actually are planning several pilots and fairly soon after that full field implementations.”

He declined to say when the full-field implementation will start.

The ability of major international oil companies to implement such EOR techniques has been central to their proposals to win a piece of a new operating concession in Abu Dhabi. The companies face increased competition for the contracts from rival firms in Asia, where buyers now account for 90 per cent of the emirate’s oil exports.

To extend the lifespan of existing oilfields, Adnoc is in the process of lifting oil recovery rates to 70 per cent – a technical challenge that requires enhanced techniques including the injection of gases, chemicals or steam into the oil reservoir. The global average for recovery is about 35 per cent.

It has set up a joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy firm Masdar for carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) projects, which will utilise CO2 emitted from the country’s largest steelmaker, Emirates Steel.

The Abu Dhabi CCS project, due to start in 2016, involves capturing and then piping 800,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year to fields operated by Adnoc. Last month the Dubai-based Dodsal group won a Dh450 million contract to build a CO2 compression facility and a 50-kilometre pipeline.

The EOR project in Abu Dhabi, which holds more than 90 per cent of the country’s oil reserves, is one of the first of its kind in the Arabian Gulf.

Adco has a capacity target of 1.8 million barrels per day by the end of 2017, which will help to boost the country’s output capacity that year to 3.5 million bpd from 2.8 million bpd now.

Abu Dhabi also has rising local demand for gas and would like to replace its use in the energy sector with CO2 to free it up for commercial uses.

The emirate also has one of the world’s highest carbon footprints and would like to cut its emissions.

As many as 100 carbon capture projects are needed by 2020 and 3,000 by 2050 to slow the speed of global warming, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. Globally, many such projects have failed because they proved not to be commercially viable and because of concerns about the risk of storing CO2 underground.

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter