SemGreen is pursuing enhanced oil recovery opportunities that also can help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. This initiative involves finding large sources of carbon dioxide that can be captured, transported and sequestered for enhanced oil recovery operations.
Major electric utilities are the perfect partner in this initiative. When coal is burned to generate electricity, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. This greenhouse gas – often blamed as one of the causes of global warming– can be captured, transported via pipelines to oil fields and used to help extract valuable remaining crude oil from production wells.
SemGreen currently is defining the carbon dioxide product specifications necessary to affect efficient crude oil recovery. With appropriate partners in place, SemGreen can purchase carbon dioxide, provide compression for pipeline transportation, build and operate the pipelines, and secure contracts with crude oil producers desiring the carbon dioxide injection in their wells for enhanced recovery.
During 2007, SemGreen and American Electric Power (AEP) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to pursue the delivery and use of carbon dioxide captured by a planned commercial-scale carbon capture system on a coal-fired power plant located in Northeastern Oklahoma that is owned by Public Service Company of Oklahoma, an AEP subsidiary. AEP plans for the commercial-scale system to be operations early next decade. The system is expected to capture about 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year after it is operational. According to the MOU, SemGreen will transport the carbon dioxide and use it for enhanced oil recovery.