Institut Teknologi Bandung

Narrated by Dr. Ivan, in the beginning, petroleum was extracted from lake or oil seepage at surface level. From that place, petroleum slowly evolved into a more significant resource. Petroleum and its derivatives, kerosene and diesel, were denoted as 'the new light'. This new title was used because petroleum has replaced whale and vegetable oil as our light source.

With the advancement of the petroleum extraction industry, its negative impacts are inevitable. In this scientific speech, Dr. Ivan explained that the industrial revolution has spurred the growth of fossil energy consumption by tenth fold since the start of the 20th century. "Oil consumption alone has grown hundreds of times over that period. As a result, greenhouse gasses emissions, which are the by-product of burning fossil fuels, have grown uncontrollably," he said.

What is the role of petroleum engineering in dealing with carbon dioxide emissions?

That question was asked by Dr. Ivan during his presentation. To answer that, there are some strategies that are applicable. The first strategy that was discussed is the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology which has two main stages: the carbon capture, to separate carbon dioxide that was generated from the combustion process, and the second stage, compressing the separated gasses and transporting it to a location to be injected into the rock layers below the earth surface.

A point that was highlighted by Dr. Ivan is that the injection process of carbon dioxide is the direct opposite of the petroleum carbon extraction process. "Petroleum expertise, especially reservoir engineering, can be applied to simulating the transfer of CO2 together with its geomechanics and geochemical phenomenon, which are related to carbon trapping mechanism in the reservoir," he explained.

He explained that petroleum engineering's role in carbon storage is not limited to the injection process. The transfer of carbon into the designated location is another example where petroleum engineering expertise has a huge role.

Petroleum Engineering for Energy Transition

In addition to reducing carbon emission through CCS, petroleum engineering expertise could also play a role in the development of renewable energy by exploiting the earth's geothermal energy. He explained that the skill and knowledge from petroleum engineering expertise can also be applied to the development of geothermal energy.
The petroleum engineering expertise can be applied to the development of geothermal energy because the two resources share many similarities in their exploration and exploitation processes.

Furthermore, another role of petroleum engineering expertise is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by utilizing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology. Dr. Ivan narrated a brief history about EOR. According to him, this technology was originally invented due to the limited efficiency of exploiting oil in a conventional way.

The EOR methods were designed to change certain conditions of the reservoir fluid or change the interaction between fluids that occur during the oil propulsion process. However, every EOR methods that were explained have its own advantages and disadvantages. It means that there are still many breakthroughs that need to be found, either in the laboratory or on the field.

He emphasized that petroleum engineering will always adapt to the process of the energy transition. This is done by continuously absorbing knowledge from other disciplines in order to penetrate the technological blockades that have long plagued this expertise.

As a closing statement for the speech, Dr. Ivan delivered his message to the new ITB students in 2021.

"Congratulations on starting the journey that will not only equip you with knowledge and both hard skill and soft skill, but which will also change your view, your way of life, or even your dreams."

Reporter: Athira Syifa P.S. (Postharvest Technology, 2019)
Translator: Favian Aldilla R (Civil Engineering, 2019)