MINOT, N.D. – A Minot company is part of a partnership bringing new technology to North Dakota for oil recovery.
Oil production is still down across the state in the wake of the pandemic. A new proposal hopes to get more oil out of the wells to help turn things around.
“We think the timing of this biosurfactant technology is really important. Obviously we’re coming off the pandemic, coming off depressed oil prices. A certainly challenging environment for oil and gas to operate in,” said Kevin Black, Creedence Energy Services.
Biosurfactants are a product made by fermentation of canola and sugar that allows more oil to flow from smaller fractures. If testing is successful they hope to produce it in state.
“It’s gonna use local canola oil, local beet sugar, and we can be making a product in North Dakota for the North Dakota oil and gas field,” said Jonathan Rogers, Locus Bio-Energy CEO.
The technology is already being used in other areas of the country. The state industrial commission awarded the two companies a more than a $200,000 grant to help bring it to North Dakota.
“You’re not using hazardous material, you’re literally just using nature, and scaling up nature’s process,” said Black.
They’ll be testing eleven wells including Bakken and legacy wells. They claim it can increase production by 40-50%.
They’ll start testing by the end of March.
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