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Other
Unconventional
FossilFuels
BELOW IS A QUICK SUMMARY OF SOME OF THE LESS WELL KNOWN UNCONVENTIONAL FOSSIL FUELS: Enhanced oil and gas recovery (EOR/EGR); extra-heavy crude; deep water oil and gas; Arctic oil and gas; and geopressurised zones.
Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery (EOR/EGR)
When conventional oil and gas deposits are exploited, only a certain amount can be extracted using drilling. A large percentage of the oil or gas remains underground. Enhanced oil and gas recovery techniques can be used to increase the amount recovered from the deposit. The terms enhanced oil or gas recovery are also used to refer to methods of extraction (such as fracking or steam assisted gravity drainage) of unconventional fossil fuel deposits (such as shale gas and tar sands).
Methods for increasing the amount of oil or gas recovered from conventional deposits include the injection of gases such as CO2, nitrogen or natural gas, the injection of other chemicals to aid the flow of oil, heating the deposit, or injecting water. Microbial EOR involves injecting microbes into a deposit (or stimulating existing ones) which then enhance oil recovery by producing carbon dioxide, partially digesting the oil and/or plugging up pores in the rock. EOR/EGR increases the amount of fossil fuel that can be recovered, and while this may be good news for oil companies its very bad news for the climate.