Work to Begin on DOE-Backed Carbon Sequestration Demonstration in Montana

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and Montana State University (MSU) said on Tuesday they would begin work on a $67 million, eight-year project that will involve permitting, injecting, and monitoring one million tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to be stored in deep porous rock formations in northern Montana.

The overall goal of the project, which will be carried out by the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership at MSU, is to demonstrate that CO₂ can be stored safely and viably in regional geologic formations.

The project site will be located at Kevin Dome, a geologic feature that extends 700 square miles underground and has trapped naturally occurring CO₂ for millions of years. There are barrier rock layers above the CO₂ that prevent gas or other liquids from migrating to the surface.

The CO₂ does not take up all of the space and therefore the dome has potential to store additional CO₂. The partnership will inject CO₂ into a rock layer that has not previously had CO₂. This will allow the scientists to study rocks that have been previously exposed to CO₂ and rocks that have not had previous CO₂ exposure, MSU said in a statement.

"Since we are getting the CO₂ from a naturally occurring source, we can learn from nature how the CO₂ has been stored safely in rock formations for millions of years," said Lee Spangler, partnership director. "This grant will enable us to learn about the transportation, injection and monitoring of CO₂ in an engineered system."

The site is located in northern Toole County near the communities of Shelby, Kevin and Sunburst, Mont. Local Montana companies will be hired for the project permitting, site development, well drilling and operations work. Altamont Oil and Gas of Cutbank will be responsible for site development and operations, and Bison Engineering of Billings and Helena will work with state agencies on project permitting. Project funds will also be spent on local services and fuel.

In addition to the $67 million of federal funding, private partners (oil companies Vecta Oil and Gas, SR2020 Inc. and Schlumberger) are contributing another $18 million in required matching funds for the project.

Sources: POWERnews, MSU, DOE