Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative Released

Last week, the National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative(NEORI), in conjunction with the Great Plains Institute(GPI) and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions(C2ES), released a set of recommendations for enhanced oil recovery(EOR) on Capitol Hill. The highlight of the list of recommendations is a federal tax incentive for companies that capture and transport the CO2. NEORI estimates that the tax credit would lead to a quadrupling of current U.S. oil production from EOR to nearly 400 million barrels/year, and at the same time reduce CO2 emissions by roughly 4 billion tons over the next 40 years. The report also recommends that federal policies should complement state policies that already exist. The recommendations received bipartisan support from Sens. Baucus(D-MT), Conrad(D-ND), Hoeven(R-ND), Lugar(R-IN), and Congressmen Rick Berg(R-ND) and K.Michael Conaway(R-TX). Sen. Baucus said, “I applaud the National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative for bringing together such a diverse group of stakeholders and presenting this set of policy recommendations. Enhanced oil recovery is a critical element of our broad, all-of-the-above approach to pursuing energy independence for America. It is also a clear example of American ingenuity that is re-invigorating oil fields.”