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EOR

Can we use CO2 in a beneficial way? EOR has the answer

With over 40 years of experience, Oxy is the largest injector of carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery (CO2 EOR) in the Permian Basin and among the largest globally.

Capturing the Way Forward

Net-Zero Oil and the Future of Energy

By pairing carbon capture technology with Oxy’s existing EOR infrastructure, we can take human-made CO2 and inject it into an oil and gas reservoir.

Injecting the same volume of CO2 that is emitted for each barrel of oil produced will enable us to create Net-Zero Oil.

This forward-thinking methodology, only recently made possible through advances in technology, will provide a critical bridge as we transition to a low-carbon economy. During this transition, we are working to replace conventional oil with Net-Zero Oil products that meet IPCC objectives.

Oxy’s EOR Leadership

As a leader in Enhanced Oil Recovery, Oxy is building upon its decades-long investment in infrastructure and expertise to help usher in a new age of carbon responsibility.

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Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is a process in which CO2 is injected into a producing oil field to help improve the reservoir’s operational, financial and environmental performance. Hydrocarbon-producing rock is porous. Injected CO2 displaces oil and gas trapped inside this porous rock—and then gets trapped itself to an extent. 

This technique traps CO2 permanently in the reservoir while producing oil more efficiently. Studies show that this process gives the operation around 70 percent lower net emissions than traditionally produced oil and gas. For Oxy's highly efficient operations, that can lead to Net-Zero Oil.

We've been doing this for decades. Consider that Oxy:

  • Has been deploying widescale EOR since the 1980s 
  • Uses up to 20 million metric tons annually of operational and sourced CO2 
  • Has built tens of billions of dollars worth of CO2 processing assets and infrastructure 

Because we’ve had this EOR infrastructure in place for decades, we can now replace sourced CO2 with captured CO2. This vast storage potential means the world has a place to put all this human-made CO2 we don’t want in the atmosphere. 

Pairing new carbon capture technologies and techniques with our vast legacy of EOR and CO2 investment could be a game-changer in the fight against climate change. And our ongoing effort is just the beginning. The United States alone has around 8,600 gigatonnes (Gt) of geologic CO2 storage capacity within underground reservoirs, according to U.S. Department of Energy's Carbon Atlas V publication.

Oxy’s CO2 Infrastructure

20,000

connected wells

6,000

injection wells

2,500

miles CO2 pipeline

up to 20

million tons CO2 storage annually

14

CO2 recovery plants

1.4

million net Permian Basin EOR acres

2.6

billion cubic feet/day of CO2 injected

2+ B

BOE net resource potential in the Permian

Certified by the U.S. EPA

Oxy was the recipient of the nation’s first two United States Environmental Protection Agency certified Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) programs for CO2 injection. Awarded for our work in EOR operations within the Permian Basin, we now have three facilities with such stringently managed regulatory activity.

  • 2015 Denver Unit
  • 2017 Hobbs Unit
  • 2021 West Seminole San Andres Unit

These MRV programs double-check that the CO2 injected into these oil and gas reservoirs is being stored safely and permanently. This third-party verification and reporting ensures total transparency and accountability today and as the use of permanent geologic CO2 storage scales in the future.