PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Volume 49, Issue 4, August 2022

Online English edition of the Chinese language journal

Cite this article as: PETROL. EXPLOR. DEVELOP., 2022, 49(4): 955–962. RESEARCH PAPER

Progress and prospects of carbon dioxide capture,

EOR-utilization and storage industrialization
YUAN Shiyi1, 2, MA Desheng2, 3, LI Junshi1,*, ZHOU Tiyao2, 3, JI Zemin2, 3, HAN Haishui2, 3
1. CNPC Advisory Center, Beijing 100724, China;
2. State Key Laboratory of Enhanced Oil Recovery, Beijing 100083, China;
3. Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China

Abstract: Carbon dioxide capture, EOR-utilization and storage (CCUS-EOR) are the most practical and feasible large-scale
carbon reduction technologies, and also the key technologies to greatly improve the recovery of low-permeability oil fields. This
paper sorts out the main course of CCUS-EOR technological development abroad and its industrialization progress. The pro-
gress of CCUS-EOR technological research and field tests in China are summarized, the development status, problems and
challenges of the entire industry chain of CO2 capture, transportation, oil displacement, and storage are analyzed. The results
show a huge potential of the large-scale application of CCUS-EOR in China in terms of carbon emission reduction and oil pro-
duction increase. At present, CCUS-EOR in China is in a critical stage of development, from field pilot tests to industrialization.
Aiming at the feature of continental sedimentary oil and gas reservoirs in China, and giving full play to the advantages of the
abundant reserves for CO2 flooding, huge underground storage space, surface infrastructure, and wide distribution of wellbore
injection channels, by cooperating with carbon emission enterprises, critical technological research and demonstration project
construction should be accelerated, including the capture of low-concentration CO2 at low-cost and on large-scale, supercritical
CO2 long-distance transportation, greatly enhancing oil recovery and storage rate, and CO2 large-scale and safe storage.
CCUS-EOR theoretical and technical standard system should be constructed for the whole industrial chain to support and
promote the industrial scale application, leading the rapid and profitable development of CCUS-EOR emerging industrial chain
with innovation.

Key words: carbon dioxide; CCUS-EOR; carbon capture; transportation; oil displacement; carbon storage; enhanced oil re-
covery; industrialization

Introduction to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 [4]. In 2020, the

United States announced an action plan to support the
In recent years, carbon neutrality has attracted un-
realization of net-zero emissions by 2050 [4]. Also, in 2020,
precedented attention from countries all over the world.
China announced that "carbon dioxide emissions will
In 2015, the international community reached the Paris
reach the peak by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon
Agreement on climate change, setting the long-term goal
neutrality by 2060” [2, 4]. The proposal of national carbon
of controlling the global average temperature rise within neutralization initiatives has greatly boosted the confi-
2 C at the end of the 21st century compared with that dence and willingness of countries worldwide to respond
before the industrial revolution. Many studies have to climate change, and provided a favorable opportunity
shown that to achieve this goal, carbon neutrality must for the development of carbon neutralization technologies.
be reached in the second half or even the middle of the Carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUS)
21st century [1–4]. Developed countries, such as the United and carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) are essen-
States and some European countries, have formulated tial technologies for carbon neutralization. "Carbon neu-
carbon neutrality goals and short-, medium- and long- tralization" does not necessarily mean zero carbon emis-
term action plans. In 2019, the European Union proposed sions, but refers to that the carbon dioxide emissions

Received date: 28 Dec. 2021; Revised date: 21 Jun. 2022.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Foundation item: Supported by the Major Science and Technology Project of PetroChina (2021ZZ01).
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1876-3804(22)60324-0
Copyright © 2022, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development Co., Ltd., CNPC (RIPED). Publishing Services provided by Elsevier B.V. on
behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 YUAN Shiyi et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2022, 49(4): 955–962

generated by various activities are equal to the amount the energy structure and achieve carbon reduction on a
absorbed by various carbon sink measures, reaching large scale.
relative "zero emissions". In real life, even if the power CCUS-EOR is feasible for the green development of
industry has achieved full renewable energy power gen- petroleum refining and chemical enterprises. These en-
eration, it is still very difficult for other industries to terprises account for about 2.3% of the total CO2 emis-
achieve zero emissions. To achieve carbon neutrality, it is sions of China [5]. Their CO2 emissions are mainly gener-
necessary to provide hedging with negative carbon tech- ated in fuel combustion and engineering process, pre-
nologies represented by forestry carbon sink and dominantly as CO2 with a low concentration below 15%.
CCUS/CCS. According to the IEA forecast [1], to achieve As a considerable number of refining and chemical en-
the goal of net-zero emissions worldwide by 2070, terprises belong to the petroleum industry, they can ef-
CCUS/CCS is the underpinning for carbon neutralization fectively realize the resource utilization of CO2 by virtue
by contributing 15% of the cumulative emission reduc- of CCUS-EOR, thereby promoting the green and
tion. low-carbon development of the petrochemical industry.
CCUS for Enhanced Oil Recovery (CCUS-EOR) has the This paper reviews the evolution of CCUS-EOR world-
double benefits of greatly enhanced oil recovery and wide and the important enlightenment of its industriali-
carbon storage and emission reduction, so it is the most zation to China. Based on the progress of research and
practical and feasible. According to the purposes, CCUS field tests of CCUS-EOR in China, this paper analyzes the
can be used for enhanced oil recovery (CCUS-EOR), en- development progress, problems and challenges of the
hanced gas recovery (CCUS-EGR), chemistry, biology and whole industry chain consisting of CO2 capture, trans-
others. In CCUS-EOR, the captured CO2 is injected into portation, flooding and storage, and points out the po-
the developed reservoir with integral geological structure, tential and prospect of large-scale CCUS-EOR application
satisfactory sealing and detailed basic data, so that it can in oil displacement for production increase and carbon
displace oil in the reservoir to improve the recovery and reduction in China.
also be stored in the reservoir. With technical and eco-
nomic feasibility, CCUS-EOR is most widely applied and 1. Evolution of CCUS-EOR worldwide
has a broad application prospect. The demonstration 1.1. Development history and current situation of
projects in Jilin, Daqing and other oilfields indicate that CCUS-EOR worldwide
CCUS-EOR can improve oil recovery by 10%–25%, that is,
the injection of every 2.0–3.0 t CO2 can contribute to an Globally, CCUS-EOR is mostly implemented in the
increase of about 1.0 t oil. Obviously, it is advantageous in United States, Canada and other countries. Especially in
EOR and CO2 storage. CCS involves no CO2 utilization; the United States, a mature CCUS-EOR industrial system
instead, it stores the captured CO2 directly. Theoretically, has been formed. In the country, CCUS-EOR was initiated
the maximum CO2 storage capacity on land and under the in the 1950s. After consistent researches on key tech-
sea is 55×108 t [2], of which the storage capacity of deep niques in the 1960s–1970s, the industrial test of CCUS-
saline aquifer accounts for about 98%, making it an ideal EOR was expanding gradually in the 1970s–1990s, ena-
CO2 storage site. Restricted by technical, economic and bling the technology to be increasingly mature. After the
other factors, CCS is still in the stage of exploration and 1980s, CCUS-EOR was put into commercialization. Since
field test [3]. the 1980s, the industrialization of CCUS-EOR in the
The CO2 emissions in China are mainly generated in United States has continued to expand rapidly, allowing
the power, cement, steel and coal chemical sectors, which the annual oil production to exceed 100×104 t in the early
account for about 92% of the total CO2 emissions in the 1980s, 1000×104 t in the early 1990s, and 1500×104 t in
country, of which the medium-low concentration CO2 2012, and remain stable ever since [6] (Fig. 1).
takes more than 90% [5]. As China is rich in coal and in-
sufficient in oil and gas, coal accounts for 56.8% of the
primary energy consumption of China [4]. Due to the proc-
ess requirements and the characteristics of high-tem-
perature heat treatment (dominantly with coal), it is dif-
ficult for power, cement, steel and other sectors to
achieve the carbon reduction goal in the short term
through large-scale coal saving and increasing the pro-
portion of alternative fuels. These sectors are character-
ized by highly concentrated infrastructures and large-
scale CO2 emissions. Adopting negative carbon technolo- Fig. 1. Oil production by CO2-EOR over the years in the
gies such as CCUS is a practical way to smoothly adjust U.S. [6]

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According to the Global Status of CCS Report [7] of the (OOIP) is 4.1×108 t. The block was put into development
Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (GCCSI), in 1949 and reached the peak production of 1020×104 t in
there are 11 large-scale industrial carbon capture projects 1974, which declined to 40×104 t in 1998. After CO2 mis-
in operation and 2 suspended projects in the United cible flooding was implemented in 2002, the annual oil
States for CCUS-EOR. Among these projects in operation, production surpassed 150×104 t in 2005. Up to 2020, the
four are natural gas processing projects with a total an- production had been stable for 16 years, with a cumula-
nual capture capacity of (1275–1285)×104 t, and the re- tive increase of oil production up to 2456×104 t and a
maining seven are other industrial carbon source projects cumulative CO2 injection of 3.9×108 t. The EOR is ex-
with a total annual capture capacity of (353–579)×104 t pected to be more than 26%. In terms of relevant policies,
(Table 1). the United States has issued the 45Q and 43 acts to en-
Over nearly 70 years, the CCUS-EOR industrial system courage the industrialization of CCUS-EOR. With the
in the United States has been mature and continuously deductible tax of $20–35 for every 1.0 t CO2 stored for oil
expanded. In terms of key technologies, a sophisticated displacement, enterprises have been greatly mobilized to
system has been developed covering large-scale CO2 cap- participate in CCUS-EOR projects.
ture, long-distance pipeline transmission of supercritical
1.2. Enlightenment of CCUS-EOR in the United
CO2, large-scale CO2 flooding reservoir engineering design,
States
safety monitoring on large-scale storage and other as-
pects. Injection, production and surface engineering The CCUS-EOR industrialization in the United States
equipment are simple, efficient and highly automated. described above can enlighten China in three aspects.
The technology of dynamic monitoring and timely opti- First, long-term technology accumulation in the whole
mization and adjustment has been continuously devel- industry chain and a large number of field tests are con-
oped. The produced gas recycling technologies can meet ducive to the formation of a sophisticated technical
the overall efficiency improvement requirements of the standard system. Second, through a large-scale pipeline
project and ensure the realization of the closed network, the gas reservoir carbon source and industrial
zero-emission target of the whole CCUS-EOR process. carbon source are integrated for CO2 capture and closely
CCUS-EOR has been successfully applied in the United connected with the reservoir to realize low-cost capture
States. Here, the CCUS-EOR project in the SACROC block and transportation, which is expected to effectively re-
of Kelly-Snyder Oilfield in the Permian Basin is taken as duce the wellhead CO2 prices ($20–25/t [910]). Third,
an example [8]. In the SACROC block, the reservoir per- relevant national incentive policies are issued to con-
meability is (1–30)×10−3 μm2 and the original oil in place tinuously support the industrialization of CCUS-EOR,

Table 1. Large-scale CCUS-EOR industrial capture projects in the U.S. [7]

Pre-capture Min. annual Max. annual
Type of Year of initial
Project Purpose Status CO2 concen- capture capture
storage operation
tration/% capacity/104 t capacity/104 t
Terrell Natural Gas Processing Plant Natural gas In
CCUS-EOR 1972 2550 40 50
(formerly Val Verde Natural Gas Plants) processing operation
Natural gas In
Shute Creek Gas Processing Plant CCUS-EOR 1986 65 700 700
processing operation
Natural gas In
Core Energy CO2-EOR CCUS-EOR 2003 530 35 35
processing operation
Natural gas In
Century Plant CCUS-EOR 2010 >60 500 500
processing operation
Fertilizer In
Enid Fertilizer CCUS-EOR 1982 10 20
production operation
Fertilizer In
Coffeyville Gasification Plant CCUS-EOR 2013 90 90
production operation
Fertilizer In
PCS Nitrogen CCUS-EOR 2013 20 30
production operation
Ethanol In
Arkalon CO2 Compression Facility CCUS-EOR 2009 23 29
production operation
Ethanol In
Bonanza BioEnergy CCUS EOR CCUS-EOR 2012 >99 10 10
production operation
Great Plains Synfuels Plant and Synthetic In
CCUS-EOR 2000 95 100 300
Weyburn-Midale natural gas operation
Air Products Steam Methane Hydrogen In
CCUS-EOR 2013 1020 100 100
Reformer production operation
Natural gas Sus-
Lost Cabin Gas Plant CCUS-EOR 2013 70 70
processing pended
Power Sus-
Petra Nova Carbon Capture CCUS-EOR 2017 140 140
generation pended

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triggering it to expand continuously and begin to move other oilfields are in the stage of industrial testing and
towards CCS. large-scale application for CO2 flooding. Currently, CNPC
is conducting major technological researches in the
2. Application and problems/challenges of
whole industry chain of CCUS-EOR. At the same time,
CCUS-EOR in China
Daqing Oilfield-Daqing Petrochemical and Jilin Oil-
2.1. Application of CCUS-EOR in China field-Jilin Petrochemical are constructing key demon-
stration projects in the Songliao Basin, NW China with an
In China, researches related to CCUS-EOR started early.
annual CO2 injection capacity of 300×104 t and an annual
Oil companies and relevant colleges/universities began to
oil production of 100×104 t. CNPC strives to achieve the
explore CO2-EOR technology in the 1960s, but the indus-
goal of CO2 injection of 500×104 t and annual oil produc-
trialization lags behind due to factors such as gas source,
tion of 150×104 t by 2025, and the annual CO2 injection
understanding of mechanism and availability of facilities.
capacity of 2000×104 t and the annual oil production of
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the state and oil
over 600×104 t by 2030.
companies have successively set up key CCUS-EOR tech-
Through technical researches over ten years [19-21], the
nological research and demonstration projects, which
China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) has devel-
have greatly promoted the breakthrough of key tech-
oped a series of CO2-EOR technologies for different res-
nologies and the success of field tests. So far, CCUS-EOR
projects in China have total CO2 storage of more than ervoir types, and performed a number of field tests in the
660×104 t, including the 450×104 t of CO2 storage from the Jiangsu, Shengli, East China and other oilfields, with
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which outstanding performances achieved. Up to now, Sinopec
enhanced the oil recovery by 100×104 t cumulatively. has implemented the CO2 flooding projects to cover OOIP
Since 2000, CNPC has accelerated the research, devel- of 2512×104 t with a cumulative additional oil production
opment and application of technologies [1112]. It has suc- of 25.58×104 t. Among these projects, the CO2 near-mis-
cessively taken the lead in undertaking a number of na- cible flooding pilot test in Block Gao-89-1 of Shengli Oil-
tional CCUS-EOR technological research and demonstra- field has cumulative CO2 injection of 31×104 t and cumu-
tion projects, such as the National Key Basic Research lative additional oil production of 8.6×104 t up to August,
and Development Plan (973 Plan), the National High-tech 2021. The EOR of the project is expected to be 17.2%. Re-
Research and Development Plan (863 Plan), and the na- cently, it was announced that one CCUS-EOR project with
tional major science and technology projects [1317]. In ad- a capacity of one million tons has been constructed
dition, CNPC carried out internal major technology and jointly by Qilu Petrochemical Company and Shengli Oil-
field test projects [18]. Through centralized researches and field [22]. It is expected to have cumulative CO2 injection of
tests, CNPC found for the first time the important con- 1068×104 t and additional oil production of 296.5×104 t in
tribution of C6–C15 components of continental oil to mis- the coming 15 years.
cible flooding. CNPC established a relatively complete In recent years, the Yanchang Oilfield has actively
theoretical and technical standard system for CO2 flood- probed into CCUS-EOR [23] and made significant progress
ing and storage in continental sandstone reservoirs, and in integration technology and whole-process low-cost
two national CCUS-EOR demonstration projects in the commercialization. It implemented the CCUS demon-
Jilin and Changqing oilfields. By 2021, CNPC had per- stration project in Jingbian and Wuqi with an annual
formed 11 key CCUS-EOR tests, with the annual CO2 in- processing capacity of 15×104 t, cumulative CO2 injection
jection capacity up to 100×104 t. With the annual CO2 of 21.6×104 t, and with expected EOR of more than 8%. In
injection of 56.7×104 t and the annual oil production of addition, it is expected to have an annual CO2 injection
20×104 t in 2021, CNPC has achieved outstanding per- capacity of 100×104 t during the 14th Five-year Plan period.
formance in CO2 flooding and emission reduction. In
2.2. Problems and challenges of CCUS-EOR in China
total, Jilin Oilfield has 5 CO2 flooding and storage dem-
onstration zones established with a total CO2 injection of There are few devices with emission of high-concen-
212×104 t, annual CO2 injection capacity up to 40×104 t, tration CO2 and few gas reservoirs with high content of
and annual oil production of more than 10×104 t; among CO2. Generally, high-concentration CO2 emission facilities
them, the Hei-79 North test zone with small well spacing are adopted in fertilizer, hydrogenation and coal chemical
for CO2 miscible flooding is expected to have EOR over sectors, with the CO2 concentration over 90% [4]. At pre-
25%. The Daqing Oilfield has a total CO2 injection of sent, domestic petrochemical enterprises (e.g. Daqing
189×104 t, with annual CO2 injection capacity of 30×104 t Petrochemical Company, Jilin Petrochemical Company,
and annual oil production of 10×104 t; particularly, the and Qilu Petrochemical Company) and large coal chemi-
CO2 non-miscible flooding in the Shu-101 reservoir with cal enterprises (e.g. China Shenhua Coal-to-Liquid and
ultra-low permeability is expected to have EOR over 10%. Chemical Co., Ltd.) have sophisticated technologies for
At present, the Daqing, Jilin, Changqing, Xinjiang and capturing high-concentration CO2 at the cost of less than

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RMB200/t. The Jilin Oilfield is mature in physical sepa- termined. Contribution and characterization methods of
ration technique for carbon capture in gas reservoirs with mechanisms of CO2 storage in reservoirs, such as volume
high CO2 content, with the capture cost less than replacement, dissolution and retention, and mineraliza-
RMB120/t. tion reaction, are clarified. The evaluation method for CO2
The high costs for the capture of low-concentration storage in such geobodies as a gas reservoir, saline aquifer,
carbon seriously restrict the economic and large-scale and CBM reservoir is formulated. The CO2 leakage
application. Low- or medium-concentration CO2 mainly monitoring techniques with integration of CO2 concen-
comes from coal power, cement, steel, building materials, tration, carbon flux in soil and stable isotope are estab-
refining and chemical sectors. The emissions from these lished. It is found that the leakage points during CO2
sectors account for more than 90% of the total emissions, storage are mainly in wellbore, fault and caprocks. Since
and mostly have a concentration of less than 15%. These wellbore may be corroded massively by CO2, leading to
sectors are characterized by massive emissions and mul- CO2 leakage, necessary anti-corrosion processes should be
tiple emission points, making large-scale carbon capture taken, such as pipe anti-corrosion or corrosion inhibitors.
challenging and costly (RMB300–700/t) [2425], which be- Insufficient sealing capacities of faults or caprocks may
comes the bottleneck in the application of CO2-EOR. also result in leakage. So far, no CO2 leakage has been
Carbon capture technologies in the coal-fired power gen- found in field tests. Nonetheless, the safe carbon storage
eration sector mainly include capture before, during and is a long-term process, with the on-site CO2- EOR project
after coal combustion. Especially, the capture after coal cycle to be 10–20 years. The missing of necessary experi-
combustion is relatively well developed; in this aspect, ence for long-term monitoring of large-scale projects may
China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd. and CHN Energy take a present challenges for the safety control.
leading place, with multiple devices of 10×104 t in cap- 3. Potential of CCUS-EOR in China
turing capacity. Refining and chemical enterprises have
carried out research and test on the capture of low- or 3.1. CCUS-EOR projects have potentials for reduction
medium-concentration CO2; however, the utilization of of CO2 emission
CO2 captured is limited for technical and economic rea- The CO2 flooding is one of the key techniques available
sons. At present, Daqing Petrochemical Company and to effectively supplement formation energy and enhance
Jilin Petrochemical Company are doing researches and oil recovery. At present, more than 70% of the CO2 cap-
constructing industrial facilities for the capture of tured by large-scale carbon capture projects in the world
100×104 t low-concentration CO2 with a low cost (less is used to enhance oil recovery, especially for low-perme-
than RMB220/t). ability reservoirs. According to the 2020 estimation of
Carbon dioxide is dominantly transported by tank cars, PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration
which is characterized by small scale and high cost. This and Development (RIPED), the low-permeability reser-
transport mode is adopted in most of the CCUS-EOR voirs suitable for CO2-EOR in CNPC oilfields domestically
projects, suggesting a high cost of RMB0.8–1.0/(tkm). contain OOIP of 67.3×108 t, with the estimated average
Jilin Oilfield has constructed a pipeline of 50 km in EOR of 16.5% and additional recoverable reserves of
length for transportation of CO2 gas with an annual 11.1×108 t. At the same time, CO2 of 29.5×108 t can be ef-
transportation capacity of 50×104 t. Up to now, there is no fectively stored during the oil displacement.
demonstration project in China for long-distance pipeline The CO2 storage potential for oil displacement in
transmission of supercritical CO2. China's major oil and gas basins exceeds 140×108 t ac-
The efficiency of the CCUS-EOR projects needs to be cording to the preliminary evaluation on CO2 storage
further improved. At present, the enhanced oil recovery potential of major reservoirs under the 973 Plan. The key
of CO2 flooding is 10%–25% and the CO2 storage efficiency reservoirs in the Songliao, Ordos, Bohai Bay, Junggar and
is about 60%–70%. Under the current technical condi- other basins have significant potential for CO2 storage,
tions, at the end of the oil displacement life cycle, more and can serve as key zones for CCUS-EOR. Especially,
than 50% of OOIP remains underground. It is of great deep saline aquifers in the major basins demonstrate a
significance and practical value to further enhance oil theoretically greater CO2 storage potential – over 6×1012 t.
recovery and CO2 storage efficiency, which will inevitably
3.2. CCUS-EOR industrialization has great potential
face greater technical and economic challenges.
for economic and social benefits
There is a shortage of experience in safety control and
long-term monitoring on large-scale carbon storage pro- CCUS-EOR industrialization has good economic bene-
jects. Through the 973 Plan, 863 Plan and National Sci- fits. With reference to the 45Q Act of the United States,
ence and Technology Major Project [1317], the mechanisms given the international oil price of $50/bbl (1 bbl=0.159
and controlling factors for CO2 storage in different geo- m3) and the tax exemption at $35/t for CO2 flooding in
logic structures with different injection techniques are de- 2026, the potential value of CO2 EOR and storage in ex-

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isting reservoirs of China may reach RMB1.0×1012 and oilfields in China has generally reached the international
more. Once the CCUS-EOR industrial chain is formed, the advanced level. Specifically, many technologies such as
annual CO2 injection capacity of 3000×104 t may induce fine reservoir description, zonal water flooding and EOR,
an annual oil production capacity of 1000×104 t, with a are internationally leading. Compared with marine res-
net value of RMB250×108. At the same time, the annual ervoirs in other countries, the reservoirs of China are
CO2 storage capacity is expected to be 2000×104 t with a mainly continental deposits with higher heterogeneity
tax exemption of RMB48×108. If the international oil and lower reserves. Therefore, large-scale CO2 storage for
price is higher than $50/bbl and the CO2 wellhead price is oil displacement is more complicated and difficult in
lower than RMB200/t, the CCUS-EOR projects can be China. To build a more efficient CCUS-EOR original
expected to be effectively applied on a large scale with the technology system for continental reservoirs, it is neces-
policy support of the state. sary to develop capture technologies with lower cost and
CCUS-EOR industrialization can create considerable higher efficiency for CO2 with lower concentration. The
social benefits. For example, the annual storage of 3 000× focus of the research is finally to develop high-efficiency
104 t CO2 equals to the carbon emissions of more than ten and low-energy chemical absorbers, and develop new
large refining and chemical enterprises. CCUS-EOR in- high-efficiency desorption reactors and large-scale facili-
dustrialization can buy precious time for the steady ad- ties, so as to secure large-scale, low-cost and stable cap-
justment of energy structure. According to the goal of ture and gas supply. Transportation of CO2 will be trans-
achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, the service life of formed from tank cars to pipeline transmission of su-
the existing high carbon emission infrastructures is less per-critical CO2. By developing low-cost corro-
than 40 years. CCUS-EOR projects can help solve some sion-resistant and crack-resistant special steel pipes,
CO2 emission problems in coal power, cement, steel and long-distance and low-cost safe transportation of CO2 can
other sectors, avoid the early shutdown and resulting be realized. Through the large-scale application of oil
waste of investment in new infrastructure, and improve flooding technologies, oil recovery can be greatly en-
the cost-efficiency of carbon neutralization [26]. In addi- hanced. Through innovative research and development of
tion, the large-scale development of CCUS-EOR can pro- large-scale CCUS-EOR reservoir development program
vide a large number of job opportunities. design, the sweep efficiencies can be further promoted.
Through the development of supporting systems such as
4. Prospects of CCUS-EOR in China
high-efficiency injection production and low-cost corro-
Driven by the favorable policies for "carbon peak and sion prevention, especially in improving the miscibility of
carbon neutrality", CCUS-EOR will enter the stage of CO2 and crude oil, CO2 flooding in formations with large
rapid and large-scale development in China. By 2030, the pore volumes, multi-stage profile control and flooding to
annual CO2 injection capacity of the CCUS-EOR industry expand CO2 sweep efficiencies, zonal CO2 flooding,
of China is expected to reach 3 000×104 t with an annual high-efficiency coating materials with outstanding CO2
oil production increase of 1000×104 t. By 2050, with the corrosion-resistant, low-cost recycling of produced gas,
coordination of CO2 storages for oil displacement and in and numerical simulation for integration of flooding and
saline aquifer, the annual CO2 injection capacity will storage, it is possible to form a series of technologies for
reach 1.0×108 t. Thus, the CCUS-EOR industry of China is miscible, nearly miscible and immiscible high-efficiency
prospective. At present, it is in a critical period transiting flooding. By upgrading the storage program design, re-
from field test to industrialization. It is necessary to take fining the geological and wellbore integrity evaluation,
advantages of rich reserves suitable for CO2 flooding, implementing integrated monitoring system of multiple
huge underground storage space, sophisticated surface techniques, and improving the safety control technolo-
infrastructure and wide distribution of wellbore injection gies, large-scale and ultra-long-term safe storage of CO2
channels to actively cooperate with carbon emission en- can be realized.
terprises to build a theoretical and technical standard
4.2. Connection of the CCUS-EOR industrial chain
system for the CCUS-EOR industry chain and to support
for large-scale development
and promote industrial application of relevant technolo-
gies, according to the characteristics of the continental To realize the industrialization of CCUS-EOR, it is nec-
reservoirs of China. In this way, the emerging CCUS-EOR essary to formulate medium- and long-term development
industrial chain can be driven to develop fast and effi- plans as soon as possible, so as to realize the practical
ciently. connection of the whole industry chain. The core is the
implementation and operation of large-scale demonstra-
4.1. Construction of a more efficient original technology
tion application projects. During the 14th Five-Year Plan
system for the whole CCUS-EOR industry chain
period, low-cost and high-efficient low-concentration CO2
Over decades of years, the development of continental capture projects with the capacity of 100×104 t/a will be

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constructed to reduce the capture cost below RMB220/t. tion projects in China. At present, China has basically
At the same time, more carbon-capturing projects will be formed a technology standard system for CO2 flooding
implemented to form a low-cost and stable CO2 gas sup- and storage applicable for the onshore oilfields of China,
ply with total capacities over 1000×104 t. With considera- and is in the development stage from field test to indus-
tion to distribution of gas supplies, long-distance CO2 trial test and large-scale application. At present, it still
pipelines will be constructed to form a pipeline network faces challenges such as high CO2 capture/transportation
of 100 km with capacity of 100×104 t/a for supercritical costs, relatively low recovery and storage efficiencies, and
CO2 and with transportation costs below RMB0.25/(tkm). lack of practical experience in large-scale storage moni-
Additionally, a large-scale high-efficiency oil-flooding toring and safety prevention and control. It is necessary
demonstration area with an oil production capacity of to speed up technical research and engineering demon-
100×104 t/a will be constructed to enhance oil recovery by stration to support the application with desirable eco-
miscible flooding by 30%. By continuously expanding the nomic performances and scales.
application, the oil production can be greatly increased. The CCUS-EOR industry of China has great potential in
Through safe storage of CO2 over 1000×104 t/a, the stor- CO2 capture, flooding and storage. The Songliao, Bohai
age efficiency can be enhanced to a level over 70%. By Bay, Ordos, Junggar and other basins are the main bat-
continuously expanding the safe storage, it is possible to tlefields for CCUS-EOR, and oilfield enterprises serve as
make positive contributions to the realization of the the main force. Technological progress and rapid and
"carbon peak and carbon neutrality" goals. efficient development of the whole CCUS-EOR industrial
chain will support the low-carbon development of fossil
4.3. Coordinated development of enterprises along
energy enterprises and will have huge economic and so-
the CCUS-EOR industrial chain
cial benefits and broad development prospects.
It is necessary to strengthen the cooperation between At present, the CCUS-EOR industry of China is in a
oil and gas fields and carbon emission sectors such as valuable period of large-scale, high-quality and high-effi-
refining, coal power and coal chemical, thus establishing ciency development. It is necessary to seize the opportu-
a CCUS-EOR innovation consortium with complementary nity and vigorously promote the development. It is sug-
advantages. Also, it is necessary to accelerate the devel- gested that the state and relevant enterprises formulate
opment of carbon reduction technologies such as medium- and long-term development plans and favorable
CCUS-EGR, chemical utilization, biological utilization policies, build an efficient technology system for CCUS-
and CCS to promote large-scale applications, and to pro- EOR with independent intellectual property rights for
vide strong technical support for the realization of the onshore reservoirs, create an emerging industrial chain
"double carbon" goal. that runs through the whole process, and realize the fast
At the national level, the newly launched carbon trad- and large-scale development of the whole industrial
ing platform plays a positive role in promoting the im- chain. Moreover, it is necessary to take the advantages of
plementation of CCUS projects. It is suggested that China oil and gas field enterprises and promote the develop-
should further introduce clear and feasible quantitative ment of CCUS and CCS for other purposes through co-
calculation methods and supporting policies on carbon operation with carbon emission enterprises. With the
emission right recognition methods, reasonable emission support of national policies, it is possible to promote the
indicators, emission reduction subsidy standards, com- realization of the "carbon peak and carbon neutrality"
prehensive income of emission reduction (with reference goals.
to the 45Q Act of the United States), so as to improve the
enthusiasm and initiative of enterprises to implement References
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