Second chances don’t always come around, but when they do, you’d do well to learn from your previous experiences and make the most of them. For the Petra Nova carbon-capture/enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) project southwest of Houston, its previous three-year run largely confirmed the preconceived notions of critics as a highly touted project that fell short of expectations for a variety of economic and technical reasons. But it also enjoyed some significant successes, and now the facility has been given a second life, courtesy of a new owner and higher oil prices. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the long-awaited restart of the Petra Nova project, what its owner hopes to gain from it, and what it could mean for the carbon-capture industry.
The Petra Nova project has been a frequent topic in the RBN blogosphere over the years, in part because it touches on so many important themes, from the basics of EOR and the markets for carbon dioxide (CO2), starting with EOR Don’t Get No Disrespect way back in 2014; the potential of EOR in shale plays, which we examined in Let It Flow and Texas Flood; and Petra Nova’s importance as a carbon-capture project, including several blogs in our Way Down in the Hole series and a pair of Drill Down reports. More recently, in Part 1 of this blog series, we looked at the history of the Petra Nova project, how falling oil prices overshadowed its technical successes, and its importance as a bellwether for the carbon-capture industry. Let’s start today’s blog with a quick recap of the project’s history.
The Petra Nova Project Southwest of Houston. Source: EIA
Join Backstage Pass to Read Full Article
