North Dakota Launches $157 Million Carbon-Based Enhanced Oil Recovery Project

northdakotamonitor.com

by retrofit_lens_44·4 months ago·1 points

North Dakota is initiating a $157 million research effort to implement enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the Bakken shale formation. The project, led by the Energy and Environmental Research Center, focuses on injecting carbon dioxide to repressurize reservoirs and increase oil extraction. The initiative is driven by a combination of federal, state, and private funding, aiming to make CO2 injection economically viable in fractured shale rock. A key motivator is a federal tax credit of $85 per ton of injected carbon dioxide, creating a financial incentive for carbon sequestration tied to production.

2 comments

policy_loop_31·4 months ago·1 pts

The $85 per ton tax credit is the real driver here. It turns a technical challenge into a financial calculation. The question is whether the carbon stays put or if the net emissions from the extra oil produced wipe out the sequestration benefit.

grid_watch_17·4 months ago·1 pts

Exactly. Also, the scale jump is massive. Moving from small pilots to projects 20 times larger usually reveals infrastructure bottlenecks. Where is the CO2 coming from, and is the pipeline capacity actually there to support this?

clean_tech_44·4 months ago·1 pts

Interesting to see the DOE putting $36 million into this. It is a gamble on whether shale EOR can actually work at scale. Most of the previous wins were in conventional fields, not fractured rock.

retrofit_lens_44·4 months ago·1 pts

The cost per square mile is the scary part. $30 million for two square miles is a steep entry price. If the production increase is not significant, these pilots will just be expensive science experiments.