*EPF413 09/16/2004
Text: International Project Uses Carbon Dioxide to Produce Oil
(Participants will test safety of underground greenhouse-gas storage) (830)

More than 3 billion cubic meters of 95-percent-pure carbon dioxide (CO2) have been injected into the Weyburn Oilfield in Saskatchewan, Canada, according to a September 16 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) press release.

The multinational effort, called the Weyburn Project, is expected to store about 20 million metric tons of CO2 and produce 130 million barrels of oil over 20 years.

"The project reinforces President Bush's commitment to carbon sequestration, a mainstay of his climate change policy," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "Through this $27 million CO2-injection effort, the United States is poised to access new technologies from around the world, while contributing 15 percent of the project's costs."

The idea is to inject compressed CO2, a greenhouse gas, into the oilfield to create a CO2 "flood" that forces the remaining oil into a well where it can be harvested; the CO2 remains behind, stored beneath the earth's surface. The project's main goal is to make sure the CO2 storage is safe and permanent.

Since the Weyburn Project's 1999 launch in Canada, it has attracted 15 sponsors from government and industry -- including DOE, Natural Resources Canada, Alberta Energy Research Institute, Saskatchewan Industry and Resources, the European Community, and 10 industrial sponsors in Canada, the United States, and Japan.

Text of the DOE press release follows:

(begin text)

U.S. Department of Energy
Press release, September 16, 2004

Successful CO2 Sequestration and Enhanced Oil Recovery Project Heads Into Phase II

Project Testing Safety and Permanence of Carbon Sequestration

WASHINGTON, DC -- In a multinational project that includes the U.S. Department of Energy, more than 110 billion cubic feet of 95 percent pure CO2 have been injected into the Weyburn Oilfield in Saskatchewan, Canada, near the North Dakota border. The effort, known as the Weyburn Project, is expected to store about 22 million tons of CO2 and produce 130 million barrels of oil over 20 years. Most of the injected CO2 comes from the Dakota Gasification Company's synfuels plant in Beulah, N.D., via a 320-kilometer pipeline.

"The project reinforces President Bush's commitment to carbon sequestration, a mainstay of his climate change policy," Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said. "Through this $27 million CO2 injection effort, the United States is poised to access new technologies from around the world, while contributing 15 percent of the project's costs."

The idea is simple -- injecting compressed CO2, a greenhouse gas, into the oilfield creates a CO2 "flood" that forces the remaining oil into a well where it can be harvested; the CO2 remains behind, safely and permanently stored beneath the earth's surface. The project's overriding goal is to expand the knowledge of the capacity, transport rate, and storage of CO2 in geological formations associated with enhanced oil recovery -- in other words, to make sure that "safe and permanent" are just that.

The Weyburn Project is a model of international cooperation. Since its launch in 1999 by the Petroleum Technology Research Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, and EnCana Resources of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, the project has attracted 15 sponsors from governments and industry -- including the U.S. Department of Energy, Natural Resources Canada, Alberta Energy Research Institute, Saskatchewan Industry and Resources, the European Community, and 10 industrial sponsors in Canada, the United States, and Japan.

At the culmination of Phase I of the project, a final report was released at the Greenhouse Gas Technologies conference in Vancouver. The report, which represents work from about 56 subtasks and contributions from more than 22 research and consulting organizations, as well as about 70 technical and project personnel, covers four technical themes:

Geological characterization of the geosphere and biosphere;

Prediction, monitoring, and verification of CO2 movements;

CO2 storage capacity and distribution predictions, and the applications of economic limits; and

Long-term risk assessment of the storage site.

The project is gearing up for Phase II. A proposal has been written and sent to each of the funding agencies for approval. Other organizations, which did not participate in Phase I but are interested in Phase II, may join the effort.

Weyburn is one of several oilfields in the Williston Basin that first produced medium gravity crude oil in 1954. The field was produced by primary depletion until 1964 when an extensive water-flood scheme was introduced. By 1996 cumulative production had reached 328 million barrels of oil, or 23 percent of the 1.4 billion barrels originally trapped underground.

Data from the project, combined with the well's historical data, are expected to provide specific insights on which a sound economic model of current and future sequestration efforts of this type can be based. It is expected that this and similar efforts would illustrate that combined enhanced oil recovery and sequestration projects are a viable and environmentally safe way of storing CO2 while obtaining oil that is difficult and expensive to extract through traditional methods.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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