State of Wyoming, University of Wyoming, and Dow Partner to Advance Oil Recovery

Field pilot projects under the Wyoming Gas Injection Initiative (WGII) will extend the life of oilfields and recover more oil with fewer resources.

In a unique state-university-industry collaboration, the State of Wyoming, the University of Wyoming, and Dow have partnered to launch The Wyoming Gas Injection Initiative (WGII), a program designed to enhance oil well productivity and recovery from existing fields and wells in Wyoming.

WGII will provide field pilot testing of advanced oil recovery methods, such as foam-assisted gas injection using recovered hydrocarbon gases, carbon dioxide or other gases for revitalization of oil fields, as well as mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions by operations in Wyoming. The State of Wyoming will provide $25 million in matching funds through the University of Wyoming to assist the oil and gas operators selected for the project – including Devon Energy Corp., Continental Resources Inc., Oxy USA Inc., and Ballard Petroleum Holdings  – on enhanced recovery projects over a five-year period. Private operators selected for WGII contribute at least $25 million to the pilot, matched by $25 million from the state. As part of these projects, the Center of Innovation for Flow Through Porous Media (COIFPM) at the University of Wyoming, Piri Technologies as the technical services branch of COIFPM, Dow, and the selected oil and gas operators will research, test, de-risk, and implement technologies to catalyze the beneficial use of greenhouse gases for carbon sequestration and oil recovery.