CO2 EOR Could Be Industry’s Key to a Sustainable Future or Its Biggest Missed Opportunity

An interesting article from SPE’s Journal of Petroleum Technology which outlines a lot of the econonomic and technical challenges pertaining to Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS). The economic discussion goes into depth regarding the sources of value pertaining to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and the tax incentives for CCUS. However, it doesn’t really speak to the possibly biggest economic driver for CO2 utilization – an economy-wide price on carbon emissions. A properly crafted carbon tax or cap-and-trade system would change the economics from being demand-driven (through the value of EOR) to being supply driven (finding a less costly home for CO2.)