Publications

The Rembang coal-fired power plant is a power plant in the Rembang district, Central Java, Indonesia. This power plant emits significant levels of CO2, of around 1.9 million tons/year. With that level of emissions, there should be a realistic treatment for processing CO2 with the aim of reducing global warming. An alternative treatment of CO2 can be created by carbon injection into a reservoir to increase oil recovery as an implementation of EOR technology. The Ngrayong and Kujung Formations have been selected for this integrated research. This research aims to evaluate the risks and opportunities of CO2-EOR implementation in the East Java Basin. Published reports show that injecting arkose sandstone with CO2 saturated brine will affect the sandstone, increasing its porosity and permeability by up to 0.5%. Meanwhile, an injection with CO2 saturated brine into limestone can increase porosity and permeability by up to 8.66%. Based on the analyzed method, the Ngrayong formation has a thickness of more than 500 meters and reservoir depth of 1000 meters with the main lithologies being quartz sandstone. Whereas the Kujung formation has bioclastic limestone with thickness of 800 – 1000 meters and reservoir depth of 1500 – 2000 meters. Hence, both of these formations are qualified as the analog for understanding the lithologic response of CO2-EOR injection. The challenge of CO2-EOR implementation in the East Java Basin is the high emissions of the Rembang coal-fired power plant that must be purified first into pure emissions. CO2 injection on heterogeneous lithology of Ngrayong and Kujung Formation may cause a blowout if not managed properly and also CO2 leakage can affect the marine or non-marine environment. However, tertiary recovery on oil and gas production can provide huge profits. CO2-EOR in the East Java Basin is a promising method for enhancing oil and gas production. This method can be applied in the Ngrayong formation which is categorized as a mature field. In addition, the biggest potential for CO2-EOR can be developed in the Kujung formation in the Cepu Block oil field.