the tech is here, finally a bridge between power and oil ::::::::
It is estimated that there are 160 billion barrels of oil still trapped underneath this country in what are considered depleted oil fields. That's a tremendous amount of oil given that America uses about seven billion barrels of it each year.
The key to unlock that oil is discarded carbon dioxide, with the primary source of this practically prized greenhouse gas coming from none other than coal emissions.
NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG ) announced earlier this week that it began construction on a billion dollar retrofit to its East Texas coal-fired power plant. the carbon dioxide that is captured will be used to yield a 30-fold increase in oil production from an aging oil field NRG Energy also co-owns.
NRG Energy expects this process will improve the production at its West Ranch oilfield from a meager 500 barrels of oil per day to 15,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak. Put another way, at current oil prices that field will go from producing about $18.2 million worth of oil each year to well over half a billion dollars of black gold per year.
Meanwhile, the project will also substantially clean up the carbon emissions of NRG Energy's coal plant. About half of the flue gas that would typically be emitted into the atmosphere will go into the carbon capture facility, which will remove all of the sulfur as well as capture about 90% of the carbon. Because of that it will remove the equivalent of the exhaust of 336,000 cars each year.
http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...lion-barr.aspx
http://www.forbes.com/sites/uciliawa...-power-plants/