Statoil lets carbon dioxide contract for Bakken pilot

June 12, 2015
Statoil has let a major carbon dioxide supply and service agreement to Ferus LP of Denver to supply liquid CO2 to be used in a test well to evaluate potential production uplift and partially replace water in a large multistage hydraulic fracturing operation in a horizontal oil well.

Statoil has let a major carbon dioxide supply and service agreement to Ferus LP of Denver to supply liquid CO2 to be used in a test well to evaluate potential production uplift and partially replace water in a large multistage hydraulic fracturing operation in a horizontal oil well.

The use of CO2 is common in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, but a Statoil spokesman said he believed this would be the first major application of liquid CO2 to displace slickwater during fracturing in the Bakken.

"This single job will conserve thousands of barrels of fresh water and is expected to enhance well productivity," said Lionel Ribeiro, researcher drilling and well technology with Statoil Gulf Services.

Ferus Natural Gas Fuels worked with Statoil and GE Oil & Gas to take natural gas from a flare stack, compress it using CNG In A Box technology, and transport it as part of Statoil-GE's Last Mile collaboration in the Bakken formation. Photo from Statoil and GE Oil & Gas.

In addition to supplying the CO2, Ferus will provide transportation, logistics, storage, and onsite supervision. The service agreement also includes the deployment of a membrane technology that separates the CO2 from the produced gas to reduce flaring.

Statoil and other oil companies are working to flaring to comply with a series of targets established by the state of North Dakota. Oil companies also can save money by capturing gas and using it to economically fuel their own operations instead of flaring it.

This CO2 stimulation test is one of several projects under Powering Collaboration-a collaboration on joint technology Statoil and GE Oil & Gas announced in January.

In collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin, Ferus and Statoil have demonstrated through numerous technical studies on North American reservoirs the potential for CO2 to enhance well productivity while reducing fresh water usage.

The contract was the second partnership between Statoil and the Ferus Group. In September 2014, Statoil, GE Oil & Gas, and Ferus Natural Gas Fuels LP announced commercial expansion of a pilot project to capture flare gas and use it to fuel Statoil's oil and gas operations in North Dakota.