What Does
Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Mean?
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) refers to several highly technical methods that are implemented to increase the quantity of oil extracted from an oil field. EOR can increase oil extraction and recovery rate volumes by up to 60% compared to traditional primary and secondary recovery practices.
The enhanced oil recovery stage involves changing the chemical and/or physical properties of the petroleum deposits to be extracted to ease their recovery. This includes the introduction of chemicals, fluids or heat to generate reactions within the oil wellbore or reserve. The three main forms of EOR are gas injection, chemical injection and heat injection.
Corrosionpedia Explains Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)
Petroleum production from oil reserves typically involve three recovery phases: primary, secondary and tertiary. The tertiary phase is the enhanced recovery phase.
Only about 10% of an oil reserve's petroleum volume is extracted through the use of pumps and natural pressure differences in the primary phase. An additional 20-40% is recovered by the introduction of a fluid to displace further oil deposits in the reserve in the secondary phase. The widely used industrial process of fracking is a feature of the secondary recovery phase.