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Abstract

Summary

The Bakken unconventional tight oil play in North Dakota, United States, has the potential to store significant carbon dioxide (CO2) while increasing the recoverable reserves by injecting CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). North Dakota is also home to multiple CO2 capture and storage (CCS) projects in various stages of development, including >2 million tonnes/year of CO2 currently being captured from industrial sources and >13 million tonnes/year planned for two coal-fired power plants by 2030. Laboratory tests indicate CO2 and rich gas (mixture of methane, ethane, and propane) have similar EOR behavior in Bakken reservoirs. Lessons learned from recent rich gas pilot EOR tests will guide CO2-based EOR pilot tests in the near future, ultimately leading to commercial EOR using captured CO2 by 2030. A 20-year CO2 EOR forecast study indicates that over 1 billion bbl of incremental oil could be produced with the injection of 15 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Regarding carbon intensity, life cycle analyses that compared oil produced from CO2-based EOR to 19 other types of oil production indicate oil from EOR that uses CO2 captured from a coal-fired power plant can have a carbon intensity that is among the lowest.

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2025-09-01
2026-02-08
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