An oil company is proposing to use carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery in Slope and Bowman Counties.
Danbury Resources proposes a 12 inch carbon dioxide pipeline from Montana to the Cedar Hills oil field. The CO2 would come from natural gas plants in Wyoming. The gas would be injected into those conventional wells, with the hope of getting more oil out of them.
The Public Service Commission will hold a hearing on the proposal. But Commissioners say they like the concept.
"It not only enhances oil recovery, it helps to repressurize the reservoir," said PSC Chairman Brian Kroshus. "It breathes new life into wells that have been depleted, or are certainly on the way down."
Kroshus said it also helps reduce CO2 emissions.
"You get two very positive benefits when CO2 is injected into oil wells that, quite frankly, aren't as productive as they once were."
The project would cost $9.2 million – and Danbury hopes to have the pipeline in place by December 2020.
The PSC has scheduled a hearing on the proposal for February.