National assessment of carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery and associated carbon dioxide retention resources — Summary

In 2020, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed a probabilistic assessment of the volume of technically recoverable oil resources that might be produced by using current carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR) technologies in amenable conventional oil reservoirs underlying the onshore and State waters areas of the conterminous United States. The assessment also includes estimates of the mass of CO₂ that could be stored (retained) in the assessed oil reservoirs following the application of the CO₂-EOR process. The USGS assessment team evaluated more than 3,500 oil reservoirs that were miscible to injected CO₂. The assessed reservoirs are in 185 previously defined USGS plays in 33 petroleum provinces of 7 national regions. The team estimated that the total technically recoverable oil resulting from the application of the CO₂-EOR process ranges from approximately 25,000 million barrels (MMbbl) at the P₅ percentile to as much as 32,000 MMbbl at the P₉₅ percentile, with a mean of 29,000 MMbbl. The associated CO₂ retention ranges from approximately 7,400 million metric tons (Mt) at the P₅ percentile to as much as 9,500 Mt at the P₉₅ percentile, with a mean of 8,400 Mt. The results are summarized in this fact sheet and are provided in more detail in the companion data release and circular.

The West Texas and Eastern New Mexico region (primarily its Permian Basin) and the Gulf Coast region together contain 60 percent of the mean assessed CO₂-EOR oil potential and 61 percent of the mean assessed CO₂ retention. Other regions with significant resource potential include the Midcontinent region and the Rocky Mountains and Northern Great Plains region.