Identification of Residual Oil Zones in the Williston and Powder River Basins

Technical Report · Thu Mar 29 00:00:00 EDT 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1430234· OSTI ID:1430234

Burton-Kelly, Matthew E. ^[1]; Dotzenrod, Neil W. ^[1]; Feole, Ian K. ^[1]; Peck, Wesley D. ^[1]; He, Jun ^[1]; Butler, Shane K. ^[1]; Kurz, Marc D. ^[1]; Kurz, Bethany A. ^[1]; Smith, Steven A. ^[1]; Gorecki, Charles D. ^[1]

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1. Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States). Energy & Environmental Research Center

The goal of this project by the Energy & Environmental Research Center was to systematically assess the petroleum systems of the Williston and Powder River Basins (PRB) for prospective residual oil zones (ROZs) through a geologic process modeling approach. This approach models the evolution of a sedimentary basin to predict if, when, and where reservoirs were charged with hydrocarbons. Suspected ROZs identified by this approach were evaluated for their potential oil recovery using carbon dioxide (CO₂) and for associated CO₂ storage. ROZs are naturally waterflooded portions of oil reservoirs with oil saturations between 25% and 40% but are at irreducible oil saturation levels with respect to water, rendering the reservoirs uneconomic using conventional recovery methods. However, using CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR), substantial amounts of oil can be recovered from ROZs while simultaneously storing CO₂. ROZs were originally identified and defined in the Permian Basin of West Texas but have since been identified or speculated in several geologic basins, including the Williston Basin and PRB.

• Research Organization: Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States). Energy and Environmental Research Center
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: FE0024453
• OSTI ID: 1430234
• Report Number(s): DOE-EERC-FE0024453
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES