The Company has built a flexible Project Creation and Economic Modelling System (PCEMS). This has been built to model under realistic circumstances, any project comprising a combination of discrete “elements”. Elements can include, emitters, transportation links and sequestration operations. The whole model can expand over time. Importantly to comprise an entire regional solution. PCEMS incorporates EOR opportunities at oilfield locations based on actual performance parameters from currently operating tertiary recovery operations. EOR can provide a significant additional income stream to a CCS project. This evaluation tool is further explained here:

 

                  Carbon Economy
Text Box: The Carbon Economy is becoming an ever more important aspect of commercial and economic life of the energy industry. As climate changing impacts are commonly associated with CO2 and other GHG emissions, the need to limit and control these emissions is exercising governments and public opinion around the world. The commercial impact of this on energy supply is very large and the issue of how to get to a position where emission free (or slim) energy can be worked into a highly competitive market without gross distortion or massive public subsidy is still to be solved. At present, the only alternatives to an economy giving rise to fossil fuel CO2 emissions are renewable energies, nuclear fission reactors or Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS). In the medium/long term future, nuclear fusion may take centre stage but meanwhile, for the next cycle of investment in energy the only realistic solution for the high volume energy supply business is Nuclear fission in the medium term and CCS short/medium term. Sequestration of CO2 in oilfields with associated extended oil production (EOR). EOR is the technological solution that can provide a source of commercial income to fund or partially fund CCS during this next phase of investment. The main potential incentive which was designed to encourage investment in carbon sequestration, the EU ETS has been fatally flawed by the partial auction process which is price volatile and which delivers insufficient value and reliability to fund long term capital investment in future carbon capture and storage. It is hoped that the adoption of the new Legislative Package (06/04/09) by the EU Council (see below) will now remove this obstacle. RCMC has been working with government, academia and commercial enterprises and advising a major player in the Carbon Economy in the USA for the past two years whose expertise is in CO2 driven EOR. In carrying out this role RCMC has developed relationships with many other organizations involved in the whole Carbon Economy and has developed economic modelling techniques to explore and examine future options and opportunities culminating in a full economic model for CO2 EOR in the UK involving all emitters and all UKCS fields. Text Box: Acquired over the past 5 years of intensive involvement, RCMC has the necessary knowledge and experience to provide strategic and tactical advice and detailed modelling to assist companies involving themselves in the Carbon Economy using CCS and EOR. Text Box: Transportation of high pressure CO2 to a sequestration site be it a saline aquifer or an oil field is expensive. The CO2 has to be purged of most impurities and compressed to around 100 bar for disposal although the spec. for sequestration is less stringent than for EOR. For on-shore transportation at the volumes involved (c10 - 20,000 ton/day per power station) pipeline is the only option. For transportation to an off-shore repository such volumes could be handled by ship. Costing the CAPEX and OPEX for such operations has a number of major uncertainties. CCS remains probably the most readily applicable option for mass deployment to achieve low carbon emission power generation in the immediate to medium term future. Sequestration of the resulting CO2 in oil fields allows the recovery of significant oil volumes (EOR). EOR has along history of success in the US and elsewhere. RCMC has detailed knowledge of this area of business from its many years of exposure to similar problems in the conventional O&G business and its recent concentration on CO2 recovery and EOR programs.

NOTE: RCMC is a joint founder of and is a shareholder in Carbonet Ltd, a specialist company whose aim is encourage and develop the technology for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) with sequestration of the resulting CO2 in Oil fields giving rise to significant Extended Oil Production (EOR). This model provides the only commercial income stream to an otherwise cost dominated activity. It is working with industry and government to achieve this aim with the eventual goal of participating in commercial projects based on this model.

EVALUATING THE CARBON FUTURE - PCEMS

Carbon Economy

PCEMS Description

PCEMS Model