Clean energy technologies are driving development of new commercial sources of anthropogenic CO2, opening the possibility of carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2 EOR) in new areas. Evaluation of the economic potential of CO2 EOR at the regional scale (e.g., a geologic basin or sub-basin) may solicit interest to implement CO2 EOR projects in these areas. This paper outlines a screening methodology for adding economics to an existing CO2 EOR bulk resource assessment for a sedimentary basin. To carry out this methodology, a field development strategy is chosen; estimates of expenses, revenues, and production and injection streams are made; economic screening of hypothetical mature fields of different sizes is carried out; field sizes which are likely to be able to support CO2 EOR under the given conditions are identified; and a new basin-scale resource estimate is obtained by applying the economic screening results to the bulk resource estimate. A screening example using this methodology to assess CO2 EOR with 16-ha (40-ac) five-spot patterns in the Illinois Basin, USA (the Basin) is presented.

The Illinois Basin – Decatur Project (IBDP) is a large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration injecting 1 million metric tons (1.1 million tons) of carbon dioxide into a deep saline reservoir over a period of 3 years. Near-surface site characterization and monitoring was initiated in 2008, and it includes multiple data streams that need to be periodically compiled, organized, and assessed throughout all phases of the project. A database of over 150 spatial data layers from external sources and project partners was compiled for the project using Esri's ArcGIS software. The database is used to integrate IBDP near-surface monitoring measurements into an accessible and flexible spatially-referenced framework. The geographic information systems (GIS) map database enables a wide range of information visualization and exploration. Although some limitations do exist (e.g., data management overhead, a selectively-optimized environment for temporal data representation), the IBDP GIS-based data management solution works well for map-based information visualization, as well as spatial data exploration and analysis. In particular, the automation of routine spatial analytical tasks has resulted in significant time savings when applied to mapping and analysis of near-surface field monitoring data (e.g., soil fluxes) and is an example of how a GIS framework can be applied to other data streams at IBDP and other CCS projects.