Capture

Oil and natural gas production in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale keeps ramping up to record levels, but challenges remain as the industry has fallen short of the state’s gas capture goals.

ExxonMobil is teaming up with California-based startup Mosaic Materials to explore how to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from emissions sources.

The Permian Basin in West Texas has been chosen to site the world’s largest direct air capture (DAC) and sequestration facility, according to Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) and Carbon Engineering Ltd. (CE).

The three-member North Dakota Industrial Commission (IC) on Tuesday approved amendments to the natural gas capture policy to streamline rights-of-way processes and encouraging more investment in value-added technologies.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) and White Energy are evaluating the economic feasibility of a carbon capture project in West Texas that could help Oxy produce more Permian Basin oil.

North Dakota’s latest production statistics show a new record for average daily natural gas production and a near record-breaking daily average for oil, but an unexpected surge in April — the most recent month for which there are complete statistics — left state oil and gas officials scratching their heads.

A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) decision to reassess reserves potential in the Williston Basin, which includes the Bakken Shale and Three Forks formation, is encouraging to North Dakota officials, and they plan to contribute to it with a separate state survey.

North Dakota’s Bakken Shale soon will need more infrastructure to expand natural gas capture processes as flaring moves higher, Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms said Wednesday.

A federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming on Monday denied a request by several oil/gas producing states for a preliminary injunction against the Obama administration’s venting/flaring rule, which the states allege duplicates and negates state actions already cutting emissions.