DOE offers grants for carbon dioxide EOR; Cook Inlet eligible for one

The U.S. Department of Energy is offering competitive grants for projects that inject carbon dioxide into reservoirs to enhance the recovery of oil and natural gas.

The terms of the federal 2005 Energy Policy Act give priority to not more than 10 projects in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana; and one project in Alaska’s Cook Inlet basin. However, DOE said grant applications for any part of the United States will be eligible.

Depending on the size of the awards, DOE anticipates making just two to four awards under the program.

DOE will give particular consideration to applications that involve the use of carbon dioxide that comes from existing industrial processes. Priority will also go to projects that significantly involve state or regional institutions which have a mandate or significant interest in supporting enhanced oil or natural gas recovery and in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The grants will apply to projects that lead to field demonstrations of the carbon dioxide enhanced recovery and sequestration process. There is a required minimum 50 percent cost share by grant recipients and the maximum grant for an individual applicant is $3 million. Funding will be tied to achieving project milestones within a phased approach for each project.

Grant applications are due by 8 p.m. Eastern Time on May 5 2006. More information about the grant program can be found at

http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=7838.

—Alan Bailey