An updated survey finds resiliency in CO2-EOR opportunities for Wyoming oil fields with plenty of room for industry growth.
In a recent interview, the Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute’s Acting Director, Lon Whitman, highlights Wyoming’s success with CO2-EOR technologies that help reduce CO2 atmospheric emissions while effectively increasing oil production for the state. According to Whitman, CO2-EOR is highly effective, but building the infrastructure to support it is expensive.
"[There are] huge reserves remaining in fields that have never been flooded, largely because getting CO2 where you need it has been limited due to pipeline access and supply," he said. "There has been a lot of work done on what's called the Wyoming Pipeline Corridor Initiative, where there was a group that studied where pipelines were needed, and how could we facilitate getting pipelines developed, specifically of interest, [to] the Bighorn Basin where [there are] huge reserves, that would be very, very appropriate for CO2-EOR flooding."
"So as with the governor's hope to see a clean environment in Wyoming with no emissions, all potential CO2 that's being emitted is being studied -- how to secure that, how to take it off the plant, and where could we put it underground," Mr. Whitman said.
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