Power plant CO2 to boost China oil field output

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, May 5 -- Japanese and Chinese public and private firms plan to simultaneously reduce emissions of harmful industrial gasses and increase crude oil production at an oil field in China by injecting carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant into the field.

Under the plan, scheduled to begin in 2009, CO₂ from a coal-fired power plant in Harbin, in Heilongjiang Province, China, will be transported about 100 km to the west to an oilfield in Daqing that produces more than 40 million tonnes/year of viscous crude.

Researchers believe that injecting the CO₂ will increase the liquidity of the crude oil, making it easier to extract. In addition to boosting oil output by 1.5-2 million tonnes/year, the field will be able to hold some 150 million tonnes of CO₂.

Japanese investors are said to include JGC Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. as well as the Japanese government's Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth. Among the prospective Chinese stakeholders are China National Petroleum Corp. and China Huadian Corp.

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].