WorldWide Drilling Resource

Michael Nasi, General Counsel of Balanced Energy for Texas said, “ [The] announcement of operations of the Petra Nova carbon capture project marks a tremendous milestone in the de- velopment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology. This project in a rural area southwest of Houston is the largest post-combustion carbon capture project in the world. The world-changing potential of the technology being devel- oped there cannot be overstated. Even in the current divided political environ- ment, this project can be championed by a wide range of interests - whether they desire technology with the potential to control carbon dioxide emissions at new or existing coal and natural gas plants, or they understand the dramatic increase in domestic and global oil supplies that could be realized as a result of the avail- ability of large quantities of carbon dioxide for use in enhanced oil recovery projects. NRG, JX Nippon, the Department of Energy, and the State of Texas should be commended for their investments in this project and the approach of using markets, not mandates, to develop carbon capture technology.” Since this process virtually eliminates all carbon emissions from coal-burning power plants, and increases production in the oil field, one wonders if this could be the answer to the country’s environmental coal debate. Coal provides affordable power, and since the United States is home to the world's largest coal reserves, it’s only fitting the country leads the world in clean coal technology. The Nation’s First cont’d from page 49. 54 MARCH 2017 WorldWide Drilling Resource ®