CCS world projects: Westpearl
The project is the first major field experiment in the United States to test whether underground geologic formations might be used in the future to entrap carbon gases and isolate them permanently from the atmosphere. Between December 20, 2002 and February 10, 2003, researchers injected approximately 2,100 tons of CO2 into Strata Production Company's West Pearl Queen reservoir near Hobbs. The quantity of CO2 injected in the New Mexico project is comparable to a single day of emissions from an average coal-fired power plant. Now, researchers are monitoring the CO2 plume as it "soaks" into the reservoir rock. The objective is to determine whether the gases are likely to stay within the formation. This field experiment puts to the test what others have only studied in the laboratory.
Project Type
Storage
Location
Hobbs, New Mexico, U.S.A
Type of CO2 Storage Operation
Depleted oil field 
Major Stakeholders
U.S. Department of Energy
National Energy Technology Laboratory
Sandia National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Strata
Project Scale
Pilot.
Project Start Year: unknown
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2002/2003 | |
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0.21 kt |
| Additional Data | ||
| Depth of Injection Interval | Unknown | |
| Type of Reservoir | Unknown | |
| Type of Seal | Unknown | |
| Distance Source to Sink | Unknown |
Method of CO2 Delivery
Unknown
Injected Gas Composition
Unknown
Project Cost
Industry US$ 800 000; Federal US$2 400 000
