As the founding principals in the Annual CO2 Flooding Conference (http://www.co2conference.net), Melzer has found them immersed in the specific technologies necessary for successful CO2 flooding and now the secure CO2 storage associated with CO2 EOR.
The willingness of the large oil companies to share their previously tightly-held CO2 technologies is best evidenced by the nearly twenty CO2flooding shortcourses/seminars that Mr. Melzer has organized (http://www.co2conference.net). With the Permian Basin as their backyard, the opportunities to observe and document the best practices utilized in the 80+ active CO2 floods have been invaluable in avoiding bad designs and minimizing waste. And now, with the success of the CO2 Flooding Conference, the backyard has expanded to all of North America and even worldwide as the best minds in all of CO2 flooding have come to participate each year in the Conference and relate their experience to the emerging field of carbon capture utilization and storage. The coming and potentially explosive growth in CO2 flooding due to the convergence of CO2 storage while making room in the reservoir by producing a product will make these best practices even more critical. Expansion and proliferation of adequate anthropogenic sources of CO2 is the current challenge but which has been incentivized by the recently enacted enhanced 45Q tax credit*.
The global concern about rapidly expanding CO2emissions is beginning to create significant investment in carbon capture and CO2sequestration. Effectively, the only place to sequester CO2 and make money is in CO2 flooding. While the protocols for CO2 flooding for sequestration purposes are still being worked out, many companies are seeing the inevitable desirability of coupling future sources of CO2 with CO2. The sources of CO2 are many; the largest of which will likely become coal gasifiers. Coal gasification can be in the form of coal to electricity (analogous to the Texas Clean Energy Project (IGCC) concept–see http://www.texascleanenergyproject.com/), coal to liquids, or coal to poly-gen. Ethanol also has CO2 as a byproduct, as does hydrogen generation (steam methane reforming), many natural gas plants, and cement plants to name just a few additional sources.
Member of National Coal Council Study Task Force and coauthor of Chapter 4: Enhanced Oil Recovery Technology in NCC Report entitled Harnessing Coal’s Carbon Content to Advance the Economy, Environment, and Energy Security, Nat’l Coal Council, 6-22-12:
http://www.nationalcoalcouncil.org/reports/07-10-12-NCC_Harnessing_Coals_Carbon_Content_to_Advance_Economy_Environment_EnergySecurity.pdf
Member of On-shore Oil Resource Committee, National Petroleum Council & coauthor of Topic Paper #1-5 entitled “Conventional Onshore Oil Including Enhanced Oil Recovery,” dtd 9-15-11, Nat’l Petr Council,http://www.npc.org/Prudent_Development-Topic_Papers/1-5_Onshore_Conventional_Oil_Incl_EOR_Paper.pdf
(Coauthor) A Policy, Legal, and Regulatory Evaluation of the Feasibility of a National Pipeline Infrastructure for the Transport and Storage of Carbon Dioxide, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission Rpt dtd 12/31/11.
Ming C.M., Melzer L.S. (2010), “CO2 EOR: A Model For Significant Carbon Reductions ,” White Paper presented at Symposium on the Role of EOR in Accelerating the Deployment of CCS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, July 23, 2010.(PDF)
– July 2009 (PDF)
“The Origin and Resources of Potential Oil Zones ,” SPE paper 102964, w/ G.J. Koperna and V.A. Kuuskraa, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Tx Sept 24-27, 2006.
“Recovery of Oil Resources from the Residual and Transitional Oil Zones of the Permian Basin ”, SPE 102972, w/ G.J. Koperna and V.A. Kuuskraa presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, TX, Sept 24-27, 2006.
Health and Safety of CO2 Operations, Melzer, L.S. and Young, P. (editor), Center for Energy and Economic Diversification Short Course #10 on Carbon Dioxide Flooding, December 2004.
“Carbon Dioxide’s Growing Use in Enhanced Oil Recovery,” CryoGas International Magazine, Vol. 42, No. 8, Aug/Sep 2004, pp 48-57.
Stranded Oil in the Residual Oil Zone, USDOE Publication dated Feb ’06 (on the origins of residual oil zones) 91 Pages (PDF)
Not every oil field is suitable for CO2 EOR. Melzer Consulting has a case history tested reservoir expertise that can examine the suitability of a field for CO2flooding. Their business background can then place these findings into a business model for adding reserves or expanding a company’s mission into the fields of CO2. Their intimacy with CO2 sourcing can assist with co-location of CO2 sources, with CO2 EOR opportunities, or geologic CO2 storage.
Through their role in planning and directing the annual CO2 Flooding Conference each December, they know all the experienced and active producers, service and consulting companies in the CO2 world. If not the right company for your specific project, they can assist you with finding the right group to fit your needs. For example, for reservoir simulation studies, they will rely upon several associates depending on what technique or simulator software is needed. For CO2 flood equipment, production and facility operations design, flood operations, or even CO2 policy issues, they have liaisons with consulting companies specializing in CO2.
