The AssurEOR STIM enhanced oil recovery (EOR) treatments from Locus Bio-Energy has been certified by SGS to reduce the carbon intensity and boost production of crude oil and natural gas operations.

The EOR technology will allow oil and gas companies, as well as their clients – such as airlines, cruise lines, utilities, companies that produce or use plastic, and any entity relying on trucking and shipping to get products to market – to accelerate the achievement of their decarbonisation goals and produce more with less resources.

"Companies that rely on oil and gas and its by-products are under tremendous pressure to meet decarbonisation goals; often with no clear path to do so as many strategies take time to scale," said Andrew Lefkowitz, co-founder and CEO of Locus. "There isn’t another technology that can immediately enhance oil extraction without additional CAPEX, while also accelerating decarbonisation. It provides an attractive solution for oil and gas companies navigating the evolving regulatory landscape, and also gives end-users access to oil produced with a lower carbon intensity."

According to the certification, utilising just a single application of Locus’ AssurEOR STIM technology reaps multiple benefits, including:
 
• Carbon intensity: At least a 7 per cent reduction in carbon intensity of production based on the most conservative historical performance readings; going up to 20 per cent at scale.

• Cost: In Texas, an opportunity for a 50 per cent tax reduction on all oil produced with Locus’ EOR technology for 10 years.

• Revenue: A minimum 10 per cent production increase, which can result in $300K in additional annual revenue from an average 100-bpd well, excluding tax credits.

Each oil and gas well that does not need to be fracked or drilled saves:
 
• Water: Reduction of 25 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water

• Diesel: Conserves enough diesel fuel to drive around the Earth’s equator more than 450 times

• Sand: Elimination of the mining and transportation of 8,500 tons of sand – the volume needed to build a half mile of freeway

• Chemicals: Exclusion of 50,000 gallons or more of chemicals, such as hydrochloric acid, NP9, BTEX, secondary 1,4-dioxane, scale inhibitors, biocides and others.

"AssurEOR STIM is the first ISO-14064 certified EOR technology that can make an immediate impact on carbon intensity at the start of the oil and gas supply chain," said Lefkowitz. "Our data indicates that treatments could boost crude oil production by 10-45 per cent, while lowering the carbon intensity by 7-20 per cent."