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Carbon Dioxide Threats

The production of carbon dioxide from fracking services poses numerous threats to the petroleum industry. However, our proposed project addresses many of these threats, and thus, we see these as opportunities for implementation of our project.

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As our understanding of the climate continues to improve, there is general consensus amongst experts that

        1) the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere contributes to global warming, and

        2) industrialization has resulted in a significant increase in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

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This poses a significant environmental threat not only to the petroleum industry as a whole, but also to the planet as global warming will change weather patterns, increase ocean levels, and exert significant stresses on ecological systems. This environmental threat has resulted in the mobilization of interest groups and governments around the world in effort to reduce the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and curtail operations that emit such gases. Recent legislation limiting carbon emission has been passed in California, Oregon, New York, and worldwide.

 

This coincides with the rapid technological growth in carbon sequestration. There exists, therefore, the opportunity within the petroleum industry to utilize this technology at fracking sites to abate the environmental, social, and political threats discussed above. Furthermore, carbon dioxide is increasingly utilized as an injected, flooding agent in EOR, and in some cases, has replaced water as a fracturing fluid.

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In Texas, nearly 10,000 CO2 CCS injection wells have been drilled and completed. These emerging technologies provide significant economic opportunities due to improved recoverability of hydrocarbons and have therefore created a demand for carbon dioxide amongst operators and service companies. Use of onsite carbon capture will enable such companies to meet their own demand for carbon dioxide in CCS and fracturing services rather than purchasing CO2 from a separate entity. This represents a significant economical and operational opportunity.

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