JACKSON -- Plans are under way to construct a new carbon dioxide pipeline that could revitalize aging oil fields in the Powder River Basin.

Encore Acquisition Co. recently struck a deal to take 50 million cubic feet of CO2 per day from the Lost Cabin gas plant in central Wyoming. It will compress the gas into liquid form at Lost Cabin and ship it via a new pipeline extending through northeast Wyoming to Encore's Bell Creek oil field in southeastern Montana.

Although the first phase of development is intended to revitalize oil production at Bell Creek, Encore said it intends to acquire and consolidate several smaller oil fields along the CO2 pipeline route in Wyoming for CO2 flooding.

"Those are smaller fields. But once we aggregate them we can make a significant (enhanced oil recovery) project," Encore President and CEO Jon S. Brumley said.

Brumley gave a project update to the Legislature's Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee here this week.

For years, ConocoPhillips has vented CO2 from its Lost Cabin sour gas processing plant in eastern Fremont County. In recent years, state agencies have pushed both ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil, which also vents CO2 from its Shute Creek gas plant in southwestern Wyoming, to switch from venting CO2 to marketing it to local oil producers for enhanced oil recovery.

Brumley said the initial 50 million cubic feet per day of CO2 for its Bell Creek project will sequester greenhouse gas emissions equal to emissions from 200,000 automobiles.

The cost of the Bell Creek project is approximately $240 million. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2011.

Brumley said the pipeline will not connect to Wyoming's only other existing CO2 pipeline, which extends from southwest Wyoming to Anadarko's Salt Creek oil field in the southern Powder River Basin. However, the pipelines could be connected in the future.

In fact, Brumley said Encore decided to engineer its CO2 pipeline for further expansions after discussions with the Wyoming Pipeline Authority. The agency is promoting collaborative pipeline planning among CO2 producers and oil companies in the state.

"CO2 floods have a lot of staying power. We are currently trying to buy fields in Wyoming," Brumley said.

Contact energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com. Read his energy blog at tribtown.trib.com/post/DustinBleizeffer/blog.