Kinder Morgan Energy Partners will invest $1 billion in a new CO2 gathering and transmission system stretching from Arizona to the Permian Basin, the firm announced today. The project will include a $300 million, 213-mile pipeline that will deliver CO2 from the company’s St. Johns source field in Apache County, Ariz., to its Cortez Pipeline in Torrance County, N.M. Kinder Morgan will also spend $700 million to drill wells and build field gathering, treatment and compression facilities at the St. John’s field. James Wuerth, president of Kinder Morgan’s CO2 group, said the project is being undertaken to meet higher demand among Permian producers. CO2 is used for enhanced oil recovery.
The new Lobos pipeline, which will have an initial capacity of 300 million standard cubic feet per day, is expected to be in service by the third quarter of 2016.