The Department of Energy (DOE) Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership and Denbury Resources Inc. are testing CO2 movement when CO2 is injected into geological formations for enhanced oil recovery. The test is being performed at the Cranfield oil field near Natchez, Mississippi. The Natchez, MS CO2 sequestration project will prove the viability of storing CO2 in the Tuscaloosa geological formation in the Gulf coast.

The CO2 is being injected to a depth of 10,300 feet for enhanced oil recovery. The CO2 will be injected at the rate of 250,000 to 500,000 metric tons per year for several years. The geological formation known as the Tuscaloosa formation is considered to be a high quality Gulf Coast formation for CO2 sequestration.

The project involves real-time monitoring of the movement of the CO2. The University of Texas is leading the CO2 monitoring and testing activities. Instrumentation is located beneath the surface that will measure the pressure and temperature of the CO2 injection site. The test will provide data regarding the movement of CO2 within the storage formation, validating storage capacity, and validating retention capacity. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has estimated that the Tuscaloosa formation can sequester 10 billion metric tons of CO2.

Rentech’s site for a coal and biomass gasification plant is in Natchez, Mississippi.