Application of Electrokinetics for Enhanced Oil Recovery - Electrokinetics for Petroleum and Environmental Engineers - page 145

The Santa Maria Basin vs. Lloydminster efficiency comparisons reflect
the practical depth range of steam injection EOR.

3.13.2 Comparison of DCEOR and Steam Flood Costs

Table 3.9 compares the costs of a potential 20 acre DCEOR operation to
that of a comparable 20 acre San Joaquin Valley, California (USA), steam
flood operation. This comparison was developed jointly with a representa-
tive of a major San Joaquin Valley heavy oil producer, with extensive steam
flood experience. The dollar cost figures are in 1998 U$S, not adjusted for
inflation.
While the capital, design and installation cost estimates, for the two
EOR technologies are close, steam flood installation costs are front-loaded,
while the DCEOR system can be added incrementally, spreading its costs
over the life of the project. Current approaches, involving intermittent
energizing of individual subsurface cathodes, would reduce the number
of surface power converters and anode arrays needed. This new approach
could significantly reduce DCEOR capital costs. Annual energy costs are

Table 3.9 Comparison of DCEOR and Steam-Flood cost estimates (Wittle and
Hill, 2006a, 2006b). All costs are in terms of 1998 U$S, uncorrected for inflation.

Item Steam-Flood 1 DCEOR 2

Capital, Design, & Installation Costs
(U$S) 3

$3,400,000 $3,125,300

Annual Energy Costs (U$S) 4 $ 620,800 $ 86,200

Non-Energy O&M Costs (U$S/Bbl) 5 $2.23 $0.45

Equipment Life Expectancy (yr.) 7 10

1 Steam-Flood figures from San Joaquin Valley, California, for 8 x 2.5 A 5-spots (20 A total),
with 8 steam injectors and 15 1,500 ft. production wells with associated generation, com-
pression, and transmission equipment.
2 DCEOR figures extrapolated from Santa Maria Basin and Lloydminster Heavy Oil Belt
Field Demonstrations, for 6 power converters, and surface anode arrays with 23 subsurface
cathodes located in production wells covering a 20 A footprint.
3 Exclusive of normal production well costs. Steam-Flood costs are front loaded, whereas
DCEOR costs can be incremental, over the project life cycle.
4 Steam-Flood: 155,200,000 cu ft/yr Natural gas at U$S 0.40/Therm
DCEOR: 862,000KW-hr/yr at U$S 0.10/kW-hr.
5 Exclusive of Lifting Costs.