Enhanced Gas Recovery Utilizing Geothermal Co-Production Plus Supercritical CO2
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Abstract
The depletion of conventional gas reservoirs in the Niger Delta has led t recovery factors below 55% and significant volumes of stranded gas. At the same time, deep high-temperature reservoirs present an opportunity for geothermal energy development. This study investigates the technical feasibility of integrating Enhanced Gas Recovery using supercritical CO₂, scCO₂-EGR, with geothermal co-production to simultaneously improve gas recovery, generate renewable power, and store CO₂. Numerical reservoir simulations were conducted using Schlumberger ECLIPSE 300 coupled with Aspen HYS V12.1 for a synthetic model of the Obiafu-Obrikom field at 3200 m depth and 142°C. Four scenarios were evaluated over 20 years: natural depletion, CO₂-EGR only, geothermal only, and combined CO₂-EGR + geothermal. Performance was assessed using Enhanced Gas Recovery Factor, CO₂ Storage Efficiency, and Net Power Output. Results show that CO₂-EGR increased cumulative gas production by 18.4% compared to base case. The combined CO₂-EGR and geothermal system achieved the highest recovery of 20.1%, equivalent to an additional 10.1 BSCF for the field case. The system also generated 3.18 MW of net power from a transcritical CO₂ Brayton cycle and stored 8.75 Mt of CO₂ with 87.5% efficiency. A trade-off of 7.8% reduction in power was observed in the combined case due to CO₂ retention for storage.
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