Officials mark start of CO2 pipeline used for oil recovery

BOWMAN, N.D. (AP) — State and energy officials held a ceremony in Bowman Wednesday to mark the completion of a carbon dioxide pipeline used to help recover more crude from older oil fields.

Plano, Texas-based Denbury Resources’ pipeline runs through Slope and Bowman counties to old oil fields along the Montana-North Dakota border. The carbon dioxide is injected underground to force oil to the surface.

Denbury is targeting oil fields within the Cedar Creek Anticline Area that straddles the border. The carbon dioxide would come from Exxon Mobil’s Shute Creek Gas Plant and Conoco Phillips’ Lost Cabin Gas Plant in Wyoming, according to Denbury’s application filed with North Dakota regulators. It would travel via several pipelines in Montana before crossing into North Dakota.

The North Dakota portion of the 18-mile, two-state $9.2 million line spans 9 miles (14.4 kilometers), according to the company’s permit application.

It’s the second such pipeline in the state. The North Dakota Public Service Commission approved its first carbon dioxide pipeline in 1998, to carry gas from Basin Electric’s Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah to oil fields in Saskatchewan.