Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions contribute to climate change and can negatively affect the reputation of petroleum companies, being a challenge for their operation. This study evaluates three options for reducing GHG emissions in the Llanito field, located in Santander, Colombia. The first is based on curbing gas flaring, by building natural gas pipelines and promoting the use of the gas. The second considers the installation of a steam recovery unit in a flash tank. The third comprises the CO2 capture and subsequent injection in the hydrocarbon reservoir (CCS), aiming at enhancing oil recovery (EOR). Findings show that, in the first case, emission decreased from 21.05 gCO2/bbl to 16.71 gCO2/bbl. The second case lowered emission intensity by 3.24 gCO2/bbl, and in the third case, emission intensity decreased from 25.01 gCO2/bbl to 17.58 gCO2/bbl. The implementation of the three cases together (case I + case II + case II) has a potential to reduce the emission intensity by 19.01 gCO2/bbl.

Asphaltene precipitation/deposition is considered a problem of formation damage, which can reduce the oil recovery factor. In addition, asphaltenes can be deposited in pipelines and surface installations, causing serious complications in guaranteeing runoff, decreasing the production of oil wells. The precipitation of asphaltenes can be minimized by reducing the oil production flowrate or by using chemical inhibitors. Analyzing the stability and precipitation trend of asphaltenes in petroleum is vital for the guarantee of flow. For this purpose, several experimental and numerical methods have been proposed. Once the risk of precipitation is established, strategies can be formulated for the prevention and diagnosis of deposition problems in production or production training. The tests can be performed with dead oil, available in the wellhead, and help in understanding the behavior of the asphaltenes. This review aims to present (i) the problem related to the precipitation of asphaltenes; (ii) thermodynamic models of asphaltene precipitation; and (iii) asphaltene inhibition, control, and removal techniques using nanoparticles.

In the oil sector, various strategies are applied to mitigate harmful effects on the environment. These strategies include, among others, compensation plans, the measurement and control of the carbon footprint and/or water footprint, the recovery of waste from activities and processes, and Environmental Management Systems (EMS). An EMS provides a formal framework that enables more efficient work on environmental issues, thereby improving performance. It aims to raise awareness of the environmental impacts associated with the oil industry in different areas through the use of weighting matrices. Additionally, it seeks to conduct sustainable studies and optimize the direct activities involved in the exploitation of hydrocarbons as a natural resource. Factors considered in decision making include ensuring that the strategy does not compromise the well-being of future generations, has economic viability, and does not hinder any oil sector activities such as exploration, drilling, production, or processing of derivatives. The purpose of this is that it allows for the creation of decision matrices based on weighting methodologies that outline possible correlations between specific activities of the oil sector such as water use, effects on soils and landscapes, greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste, liquid effluents, hazardous waste, and toxic waste, among others. The decision matrices can also help elucidate the relationship of these activities with mitigation strategies to provide a decision-making tool for environmental management plans so that activities are implemented in a way that can mitigate impacts on water, soil, and air resources. The results of this study were classified using a traffic light matrix, based on the level of technical congruence, using an optimal (green), regular (yellow), medium (orange), and at-risk (red) scale. The environmental impact of “alteration of the geoform of the land” was positioned in the at-risk category due to its assessment by experts in relation to the activity of “land adaptation”. In the medium category, a total of 23 impacts were identified, while 10 impacts fell into the regular category. These results were evaluated in the context of the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of the oil industry.

Conventional oil reserves in Colombia are depleted. The country´s reserve-to-production ratio is estimated as 5 years. Therefore, the search for new resources and their conversion into proven reserves are essential. In this case, the production of unconventional reservoirs is an option in Colombia. This work evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of the production of a Tight Oil source rock reservoir, considering parameters such as fracture shape factor, fracture propagation, fracture pressure, international oil price, petrophysical characteristics, fluid properties, drilling cost, completion, and fiscal regime. The methodological development of the work allowed concluding that this reservoir located in the middle Magdalena Valley basin has production potential and those factors such as the type of completion, drilling technique, and cost of lifting the resource have a significant impact on the viability of the project.

In this article, a Colombian field was chosen which is located in Puerto Nare, Antioquia where there is a good location to install Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), which consists of concentrating heat through the sun, to generate steam and supply it and also be able to do this without the absence of solar irradiation, through this article the LCOE calculation will be evidenced by the System Advisor Model (SAM) simulator taking into account different factors, obtaining a value of 0.4kW /$, which tells us which is quite profitable. Therefore, this energy is viable for the implementation in the cyclical injection of steam to the Colombian TECA field, where it is desired to predict the calculation of the production rate through an analytical model and calculate the heat losses, to know the proper steam temperature for cyclic injection.