Mining Fluids' Influence on Improved Oil Recovery
The advancement of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies has triggered a new oil boom in the United States. EOR, also known as tertiary mining, is a variant on hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") that has allowed oil companies to more than quadruple the quantity of oil and/or natural gas recoverable from otherwise exhausted reservoirs. After primary and secondary recovery procedures, crude oil recovery from an oilfield generally amounts to no more than 40% of a reservoir's potential. EOR with tertiary oil recovery was created in order to increase this recovery factor. EOR Three Methods EOR can be accomplished using one of three approaches. These entail injecting chemicals deep below to increase recoverable oil production by 20-30%. As a result, previously abandoned minefields may be repurposed. The first method employs thermal energy injection. This accounts for up to 40% of US EOR technology now in use, particularly in California. The second approach includes i...