An experimental project in Canada to inject carbon dioxide into oil fields has proven successful, removing 5 million tons of the heat-trapping ³greenhouse² gas, while enhancing oil recovery, the Energy Department said Tuesday.

If the methodology could be applied worldwide, from one-third to one-half of the carbon dioxide emissions that go into the atmosphere could be eliminated over the next century and billions of barrels of additional oil could be recovered, the department said.

The Project's homepage says:

The PTRC [Petroleum Technical Research Centre], meanwhile, is the first to apply a rigorous scientific approach to injecting and storing industrial sources of CO2 to improve oil recovery. EnCana uses CO2 that would otherwise be vented to the atmosphere; the liquefied gas is transported through a specially built 320-km pipeline from the Dakota Gasification Company's Great Plains Synfuels Plant in North Dakota.

The homepage for the PTRC is here

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