On Oct. 4, 2004,
an international team of researchers converged on Texas and began injecting
liquefied carbon dioxide underground into an abandoned oil field. For nine straight
days, they injected the gas, watching it spread throughout the oil reservoir.
We wanted to show that we could put carbon dioxide underground safely
with no side effects and that we could successfully measure what would happen
once the carbon dioxide was underground, says Susan Hovorka, a researcher
at the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas in Austin.
Researchers from the Department of Energys National Energy Technology
Laboratory install a monitoring system in the soil at a historic oil field in
Texas, where carbon dioxide was injected into the ground to test the feasibility
of geological carbon sequestration. Courtesy of the University of Texas Bureau
of Economic Geology.
Over recent weeks and months, results have been pouring out of the research
project, a collaboration that has been in the works for two years between national
labs, the U.S. Geological Survey, and oil and gas companies (see Geotimes,
March 2003). Everything we predicted we would see, we have seen,
Hovorka says. It was a slam dunk.
Called the Frio Brine Pilot Experiment (named after the Frio Formation sandstone
in which the reservoir is located), the project was designed to field test modeling,
monitoring and verification techniques that could be applied to geologic carbon
sequestration; the goal is to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by storing
it underground. Because this site at the South Liberty oil field, about 30 miles
northeast of Houston, resembles much of the subsurface of the Gulf Coast, it
was a good test locale, Hovorka says.
Hovorka and colleagues injected 1,600 tons of carbon dioxide, which they had
bought from a nearby food-grade carbon dioxide producer (for beer and soda).
Using seismic techniques, they monitored the two injection wells and the entire
oil field subsurface, also testing any geochemical changes of the water and
gas in the system and watching for any leaks of carbon dioxide. The researchers
found that soon after all the carbon dioxide was injected, the plume spread
out and may have been permanently trapped by the same forces that originally
trapped the oil in place. And, Hovorka says, none of the gas has escaped to
the surface. The researchers will keep monitoring the site for the next nine
months track any further changes.
The Frio project was a simple research pilot project, says Ben Rostron, a geologist
at the University of Alberta who is involved in a massive oil recovery and carbon
sequestration project at the Weyburn oil field in Saskatchewan. But in being
simple, it helps geoscientists learn more about the subsurface and what the
carbon dioxide does once put there, he says. We can always make a prediction
and make a model. But now we want to look at [these fields] and see if we are
right about what happens, Rostron says.
Hovorka says that the goal of the project was to do fundamental scientific
research. We felt a simple system like this one would be optimal for the
research process and it was, she says.
With the confidence in modeling and monitoring techniques gained from the Frio
project, Hovorka says, she and her colleagues next will be injecting the gas
into oil fields that are not yet depleted, trying to enhance the oil recovery
there. Such an experiment has been ongoing at the 180-square-kilometer Weyburn
oil field since 2000.
Megan Sever
Next month, Burying carbon dioxide, Part II will look at the
Weyburn carbon sequestration project.
Link:
Geotimes,
March 2003
Back to top
Oil giant Yukos is crumbling, after a strange auction of its subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz
(or Yugansk) in December and a series of legal troubles. Whether or not the
embattled company survives, the end point may be the same: The Russian government
will have effectively re-nationalized a major oil company first privatized in
the 1990s.
Yukos has been under fire by the Russian government since October 2003, when
its former owner Mikhail Khodorkhovsky was jailed for tax evasion (see Geotimes,
April 2004). The sale of Yugansk, the companys largest oil-producing
unit, was meant to cover part of Yukos $28 billion tax backlog
of which Yugansk owes about $8 billion.
The Russian government seemingly tapped Gazpromneft, a subsidiary of government-owned
Gazprom, to buy Yugansk, but Gazproms efforts were complicated by a bankruptcy
trial in Texas, brought by Yukos representatives on Dec. 16. Instead, in a strange
bidding session with only one bidder, two nameless representatives of an unknown
company won Yugansk for a little over $9 billion. Gazpromneft representatives
watched without bidding.
In the following week, the buyer was revealed as the previously unknown BaikalFinansGroup.
That companys shares were then acquired by Rosneft, Russias fifth-largest
oil company. Government-owned Rosneft itself was scheduled to merge with Gazprom.
On Dec. 30, the Russian government announced that Yugansk would not be part
of the Gazprom-Rosneft merger, but would remain an independent, nationally owned
company. A following announcement raised the possibility that 20 percent of
its equity might be purchased by the China National Petroleum Corporation.
At press time, the legality of the series of initial deals that split Yugansk
from Yukos remained in question. But on Dec. 23, Russian President Vladimir
Putin called the proceedings normal.
Whether or not [the proceedings] should be considered normal in their
lack of transparency is a bigger issue for the future of doing business in Russia
or dealing with its new state-owned companies, according to a memo from
the PFC Energy companys Russia and Caspian Service.
The United States had previously voiced concerns over the auction of Yukos.
We had hoped for a solution that would allow for the legitimate enforcement
of tax laws, but avoid harming investors, especially American investors,
said White House press secretary Scott McClellan, in a briefing on Dec. 21.
He said that the Bush administration is concerned that Russias conduct
could have a chilling effect on foreign investment in Russia and
on its participation in the global economy.
At the end of December, credit-rating company Standard & Poors downgraded
Yukos after the company defaulted on bank loans, which it was unable to pay
without income from Yugansk. Meanwhile, Yukos representatives continued to pursue
their case in January in U.S. bankruptcy court.
James P. Searls, the recently retired potash commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, has compiled the following information on potash, a primary source of soluble potassium.
In 1807, Sir Humphrey Davy discovered a metal during the electrolysis of potassium
hydroxide; he named the metal potassium because it came from potash recovered
from wood ashes. The four types of potash are the water-soluble compounds potassium
chloride, potassium sulfate, potassium-magnesium sulfate and potassium nitrate.
The early uses of potash were in glass and soap manufacturing, as a diuretic,
and another form was used in gunpowder.
Today, potash is typically used as an agricultural fertilizer. Potash, along
with other primary plant nutrients such as fixed nitrogen and soluble phosphorus,
is required for plant growth, as it provides potassium ions to plants.
Potassium, however, does not enter the plant structure as carbon, water and
other elements do. Instead, the water-soluble potash compounds are found in
the fruit of the plant and provide a source of potassium to fruit-eating animals,
which, along with sodium, is required to control the water balance of the body
in all animals. Potassium and sodium are also needed for electrical signals
to travel along nerve paths for sensory information and for muscle contraction
in the heart and lungs.
In addition to its use as a fertilizer, potash has important industrial applications.
Potassium chloride is important where it is used in aluminum recycling, the
production of potassium hydroxide, metal electroplating, oil-well drilling mud,
steel heat-treating, sidewalk and street de-icing, and water softening. The
glass industry uses potassium carbonate for television and computer monitor
production. It is also used to produce alkaline batteries, animal feed supplements,
some types of fire extinguishers, food products, pharmaceutical preparations
and photographic chemicals, and as a catalyst in the manufacture of synthetic
rubber. These nonfertilizer end-uses usually account for 10 percent to 15 percent
of annual potash consumption in the United States.
In 2003, the United States produced about 2.4 million metric tons of potassium
chloride, potassium sulfate and potassium-magnesium sulfate, and U.S. exports
of these averaged 0.8 million metric tons. Imports of potassium chloride, potassium
sulfate and potassium nitrate equaled 7.8 million metric tons. The United States
had an apparent consumption of approximately 9.5 million metric tons of potash.
World production was 51 million metric tons in 2003, with Belarus, Canada, Germany
and Russia producing about 75 percent of the worlds estimated potassium
chloride production.
Potash is mined primarily from evaporite deposits. Brazil, Canada, England,
Germany, Spain, Ukraine and the United States produce potash from underground
evaporites. In addition, potash is produced from brines occurring at Salar de
Atacama in Chile, Qinghai Lake in China, the Dead Sea between Israel and Jordan,
and the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
For more information on potash, visit minerals.usgs.gov/minerals.
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