As of September 30, 2016, the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies program at MIT has closed. The website is being kept online as a reference but will not be updated.

Lula Fact Sheet: Commercial EOR using Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide

Company/Alliance: Petrobas

Location: 300 km offshore Rio de Janerio, Brazil

Start Date: Pilot project started in 2011; Commercial scale in 2013

Size: 0.7 Mt/yr

CO2 Source: Offshore gas processing plant

Transportation: Direct injection

Oil Field Storage Site: Lula Oil Field, Santos Basin

Injection Depth: 2-3 Km depth

Reservoir Type: Carbonate reservoir

Comments:

The project is part of a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) facility that incorporates CO2 separation and injection facilities.

Brazil's offshore oil fields occur in the vast region known as the subsalt. These fields occur in the ultra-deep waters southeast of Brazil and the oil contains large quantities of CO2. Lula is the first supergiant field in this area and the most significant CCS project yet in Brazil. The site holds an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

The platform is moored at about 300 kilometers (186.4 miles) from the coast of Rio de Janeiro at a water depth of 2,150 meters (1.3 miles), with the oil lying some 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) below the ocean's surface.The pre-salt carbonate reservoir occurs just below a thick, 2000 m salt column that traps a light, 28-30° API oil and a high CO2 composition that varies from 8%-15%. The sucessful outcomes from the pilot in 2011, meant that Petrobas could proceed with the commercial scale CO2-EOR project in 2013.

Project Link: Petrobras to begin offshore CO2 sequestration (February 2013)

Other Sources and Press Releases:
Petrobas Company webpage
Supergiant Lula Brings CO2 EOR Advances (September 2012)
Petrobras to begin offshore CO2 sequestration( February 2011)