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Washington, D.C. - A D.O.E. (DOE) team of regional partners has begun injecting 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) to evaluate the carbon storage potential and test the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) potential of the Mississippian-aged Clore Formation in Posey County, Ind. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen as a key technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping to mitigate climate change.
The injection, which is expected to last 6-8 months, is an integral step in DOE's Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership program. The Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) is conducting the field test to assess the most promising strategies for deploying CCS in the Illinois Basin.
In addition to evaluating the Clore Formation as a storage site, the plan is assessing the potential for EOR in wells that were previously producing oil, but are now abandoned. EOR utilizing CO2 injection into hydrocarbon reservoirs has been a commercial practice for in excess of 3 decades. D.O.E. researchers believe enhanced EOR programs can dramatically enhance the efficiency and economics of using the technology in a wider variety of geologic applications.
The three-member plan team-composed of the Illinois State Geological Survey at the University of Illinois, the Indiana Geological Survey, and Gallagher Drilling Inc.-is injecting CO2 into the Mumford Hills oilfield at a depth of about 1,900 feet. The injection well is located among 4 oil-production wells about five miles northeast of New Harmony, Ind.
The full duration of the plan will depend on the capability of the reservoir to serve as a storage site, as well as the number of water and CO2 injection cycles that will be needed to reach plan goals. A monitoring, verification, and accounting effort is underway at the location to monitor air and groundwater quality; measure the amount of produced oil, gas, and water; monitor CO2 injection composition, volumes, and rates; and monitor injection pressure and temperature. D.O.E. expects the plan to support in excess of 120 full-time jobs that will extend over the life of the project.
DOE's Office of Fossil Energy began the partnerships plan in 2003 to validate and ultimately deploy carbon sequestration technologies. The plan is nearing the conclusion of its 2nd phase, the validation phase, a 4-year effort focused on evaluating promising CO2 storage sites through small-scale field tests in the 7 partnership regions.
MGSC is led by the Illinois State Geological survey, in conjunction with the Indiana Geological Survey and Kentucky Geological Survey, and represents Illinois, southwest Indiana, and western Kentucky. The partnership has been focusing on the ability of regional geologic formations to store part of the 304+ million tons of CO2 emitted yearly from fixed sources within the Illinois Basin.
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