An oil boom rewind thanks to CO2?

According to the Calgary Herald, Ian MacGregor, chair of both North West Upgrading and Enhance Energy, told a Calgary Chamber of Commerce audience that a carbon-dioxide sequestration project and pipeline his companies are planning would breathe fresh air into Alberta's depleted conventional oil industry by allowing the production of up to 1 billion barrels that otherwise would stay below ground. The technique essentially collects huge amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere and injects it into the ground, and MacGregor said that if injected into oil reservoirs, the process is commercially viable, "Otherwise, it's just a cost." MacGregor's companies are planning to make CO2 available via pipeline (on-stream target date in 2013) for enhanced oil recovery at 77 conventional fields from Edmonton to Red Deer. In addition to offsetting half of the CO2 emissions produced by the province's controversial oil sands, he said the project would help kick-start industry in small towns, "turning back the clock to the 1950's" when the region felt a flurry of development from a conventional oil boom. The project recieved support from the Canadian government, but MacGregor said the aid wasn't necessary to make the project possible but that it has allowed the effort to move ahead on a larger scale. Read much more, here.