30-06-08 Occidental Petroleum will invest $ 1.1 bn in enhanced oil recovery assets in West Texas, including construction of a natural gas processing plant and related pipeline to pump carbon dioxide into its Permian Basin oilfields, Occidental said.
Construction of the plant is expected to expand Occidental's Permian production by a "minimum" of 50,000 bpd within the next five years, Occidental said.

Los Angeles-based Occidental currently produces 200,000 boepd in the Permian and had 1.2 bn boe in proved reserves there at the end of 2007.
"This project will allow us to exploit at least 3.5 tcf of CO2 for our long-term use in enhanced oil recovery projects throughout the Permian Basin and will allow us to develop approximately 500 mm barrels of reserves from currently owned assets at an attractive cost," Occidental CEO Ray Irani said.

The pipeline and plant, to be built in Pecos County, Texas, with a CO2 takeaway capacity of at least 450,000 mm cfpd, are expected to begin operation in 2011. The160-mile-long pipeline will link the plant to the industry CO2 hub in Denver City, Texas.
Occidental said under an agreement with local producer SandRidge Energy, its new plant will process natural gas produced by SandRidge, which has a high CO2 content. The Occidental oil and gas wells will then receive the CO2 stream that is separated from the gas. Occidental said it will receive an additional 50,000 mm cfpd of CO2 from existing plants owned by SandRidge.