With crude oil prices sky-high and the U.S. trade deficit at record levels, U.S. oil reserves have assumed a critical role in the U.S. economy. The search for new reserves usually involves exploring for new fields. But vast amounts of stranded oil lie underground in aging U.S. oil fields. The oil is stranded because there’s been no way of bringing it to the surface.
Maybe that situation is about to change — on April 20 the U.S. Department of Energy released a series of reports suggesting that as much as 43.3 billion barrels of this stranded oil could technically be extracted from oil field reservoirs.
The key: a technique known as carbon dioxide enhanced recovery that can greatly extend the capabilities of conventional enhanced oil recovery methods such as waterflood, gas lift and the use of miscible injectant.
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With crude oil prices sky-high and the U.S. trade deficit at record levels, U.S. oil reserves have assumed a critical role in the U.S. economy. The search for new reserves usually involves exploring for new fields. But vast amounts of stranded oil lie underground in aging U.S. oil fields. The oil is stranded because there’s been no way of bringing it to the surface.
