Published: March 15, 2022 |

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Oklahoma-based Continental Resources said it is contributing $250 million and its operational expertise toward helping to create what backers call the largest carbon capture and sequestration project of its kind in the world.

Company leaders said this week its contributions will help Summit Carbon Solutions, a business established just over a year ago by the Summit Agricultural Group, gather, transport and then sequester CO2 in North Dakota that is produced by at least 31 ethanol production facilities and other industrial sources across the upper Midwest.

The gas will be gathered and transported by underground pipelines to injection wells inside of the state, where it will be permanently stored in the saline-saturated Broom Sweep formation, they said.

So far, Summit Carbon Solutions has commitments to transport up more than 8 million metric tons of CO2 annually on the still-to-be-built system.

It plans for the pipeline network to have a start-up capacity of 12 million tons per year, with room to expand its capacity to 20 million tons annually, officials said.

Summit Carbon Solutions states the $4.5 billion system, which it hopes will be operational before the end of 2024, will dramatically reduce the impact those facilities have on the environment and will make them a source of net-zero carbon fuel for the nation by the end of this decade.

Permits for needed lines are being sought from state regulators across the region.

HOW CONTINENTAL RESOURCES GOT INVOLVED

Jeff B. Hume, Continental Resources’ vice chairman of Strategic Growth Initiatives, said the company closely watched work being done by scientists at the University of North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center as they evaluated potential geological formations that could be used to permanently sequester CO2.

When Summit Agricultural Group announced the creation of Summit Carbon Solutions about a year ago, Hume said Continental reached out to it specifically to learn more about its plans.

That led to discussions that potentially could involve the Oklahoma-based company in helping to move CO2 through 2,000 miles of underground pipe to injection wells it could potentially drill and operate.

“We wanted to see if we could participate with them through the operational expertise we could bring,” Hume said.

“Over the last several months that we have worked with them, we have determined it will pay off for both of us. They have very good grasps of ethanol production and how to capture CO2 off ethanol plants efficiently, while Continental Resources has the experience of moving fluids through pipelines across long distances and in managing the injection and monitoring of these wells,” Hume added.

“We more than likely will be helping to construct the well bores and handling the monitoring aspects of those wells,” Hume concluded.

Hume said Continental Resources already has been working with Summit to drill test wells and plans to use various types of science-based monitoring tools, including three-dimensional seismic surveys conducted over time, to make sure the CO2 isn’t escaping a formation where it is being stored.

“The combination of these two companies will work very well.” Hume said.

Source: Oklahoman

About Continental Resources
Continental Resources, Inc. explores for, develops, and produces crude oil and natural gas primarily in the north, south, and east regions of the United States. The company sells its crude oil and natural gas production to energy marketing companies, crude oil refining companies, and natural gas gathering and processing companies. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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