Using rather than storing CO2
Oil industries use a technique to improve recovery rates from mature oil wells by injecting CO2 into the oil fields, which reduces the viscosity of the oil allowing them to raise output tremendously. EnCana has contracted with the Great Plains Synfuel power plant to ship the CO2 that it creates to the oil fields where the CO2 can be put to good use. Formerly the CO2 used was from natural deposits.
BusinessWeek tells how major energy companies are working on projects to capture CO2 and, instead of storing it, using it to produce billions of barrels of oil that would otherwise be lost.
The Energy Dept. estimates that an improved and expanded carbon dioxide oil recovery program could add 89 billion barrels to the 22 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves believed to exist in the U.S., and possibly much more.
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