• Create a space for carbon management.
The Petroleum Association of Wyoming (PAW) is launching a Carbon Initiative Network to help with development and growth of carbon management networks in the Cowboy state.
PAW President Peter Obermueller says there is so much discussion going around on carbon capture and much of it is going on in the “political arena”.
“We wanted at the Petroleum Association,” Obermueller said, “to create a space for industry. For the people who are doing the work of carbon capture and carbon management.
“We wanted to create a space for the industry to be able to talk to people about what’s going on, what Wyoming has been doing, what we’re thinking about doing in the future. Really, to help Wyoming’s oil and gas industry to stay around and stay producing for a very long time.”
He says when it comes to carbon capture much of the world is late to the game and the Cowboy state has been doing it for a long time. He highlighted Shute Creek in La Barge as playing an important role in all of it.
“I don’t know if folks know that facility today, and for a long time,” Obermueller said, “Captures a full 25 percent of the carbon captured all around the globe. It’s the biggest carbon capture by a long shot anywhere in the world and we’ve been doing it for 40 years.”
He says it is being done in other parts of the state, but under a different name called “enhanced oil recovery”. He says it is becoming more a part of the discussion because the federal government is supporting aspects of it through subsidies. He says considering everything is already set up here and the Cowboy state has the great geology, it should really be on the “forefront of this new industry”.
He also says when it comes to carbon capture, some people may say it will replace oil and gas. He says from the Carbon Initiative Network perspective, that isn’t the case. He also says carbon management is not just about carbon storage. There is need for this network with the federal government coming down on carbon emissions across the board.
“We don’t really have big oil in Wyoming,” Obermueller said. “We have really small operators…for the most part.”
He says all these rules from the federal government are targeting these small operators. There are some people whose interest in the Carbon Initiative Network will be regarding carbon storage or enhanced oil recovery. He says this is also about helping the small operators though too.
“But there’s also a lot of mom and pop businesses who just need the industry to circle the wagons,” Obermueller said. “And help each other get a grasp on how we can deal with just carbon emissions as the federal government keeps pushing down and down and down.”
He says that it is why the network got created. To help people in the industry who are doing this work. You do not need to be a member of the PAW to joining the Carbon Initiative Network.
