Near Escalante Carbon Dioxide Gas Discovery Triggers Economy Hope ESCALANTE With the recent discovery of the largest deposit of carbon dioxide gas in the United States near Escalante, the potential for significant economic impact is almost certain. With Mid-Continental Oil's first well producing 124,347,230 cubic feet per day of the commercially important gas, potential expansion to additionally proposed wells could . yield at least 750 million cubic feet of carbon dioxide gas per day. The parent company is Pacific International Production, Dallas, and president John Slawter says full production is from three to five years in the future. Eventually the company expects to employ Jrom COO to 700 people. Carbon dioxide gas is currently being used to repressurize oil wells where production has dropped off. Natural gases underlying oil push it out of the wells and as oil Is removed, the gas expands, reducing the pressure ultimately to the point that pressure is lost and the well ceases to be productive economically, Carbon Dioxide gas is used to repressurize the well when it is compressed and pumped into the gas reserve increasing the pressure again. Seventy-five percent of the oil may remain when the initial pressure is lost and by adding C02, often as much as 60 percent of the remaining oil can be pumped out. Although the concept is a relatively new one, it is catching on fast and success thus far has demonstrated the value of the process. Its ability to increase oil reserves has the potential to significantly reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, company representatives said. Two Important deposits of C02 in Colorado cannot begin to match the potential output of the newly discovered Escalante field. Currently, In Cortez, New Mexico, a project put together and almost completed by Shell Oil and Mobil Oil, is taking the gas to West Texas via a 500-mile pipeline. The Escalante well was drilled less than 100 feet from an original well first drilled In June of 1961 by Phillips Petroleum. Escalante Mayor Mohr Christensen who acknowledges the importance of recent developments to the future growth of his community, says that he remembers working on the old 1961 well where, at 1606 feet, carbon dioxide was found that was 89.4 percent pure. The original well was capped until 1980 when Atlantic Richfield Company' attempted to complete the drilling but was unable to do so because of formation dtmage. Orlyn Terry, independent consulting geologist to Mid-Continent Oil said that he has been working on the Escalante project for the past ten years through a series of owner changes and never lost faith that enormous potential existed for the field. The well, some 32 miles north of Escalante, sits at an elevation of about 9,000 feet and work has essentially ceased for the winter. Come spring, Terry says the company is ready to take up where it left off and "by this time next year should have a fairly active program." He said the natural energy source will have far less impact environmentally. Bulloch Brothers Engineering's Bud Rhodes said his Cedar City firm has been working on its surveys for the Texas-based company and is drafting plans for two wells, scheduled for drilling in June and July of 1984. Terry said that drillers first en countered the gas in the Shinarump formation at 1300 feet and continued drilling through Timpoweap, Toroweap, and Coconino formations, stopping in the top of the Cedar Mesa level. The company started drilling September 11 and by September 24 had reached 3443 feet, completing the well on September 28. Company representatives indicate that the deposit probably covers some 28,000 arcs in the Escalante Anticline area with reserves of somewhere between 1.6 and four trillion cubic feet. At today's market price of $1 to $2 per thousand cubic feet, company spokesmen estimate some $8 billion dollars in value. With well costs running approximately $700,000 and associated equipment needed to pipe the gas a sting another $400,000, Slawter emphasized the need to be certain of the actual potential of its investment. The two wells proposed for next spring should confirm that potential and if they do, Pacific International Production Company is looking to produce some 740 million cubic feet per day of carbon dioxide to obtain some important contracts in California. With the field being located on National Forest land, careful scrutiny of the company's practices and plans is anticipated but geologist Terry indicated that potential development by IPCO would not be environmentally threatening. Garkane Power Association, according to general manager Glen Willardson, has been closely watching the activities associated with the significant C02 find. Potential electrical power use for the fully developed field could represent an increase to a possible 96 megawatts for the company that serves the rural area, more than twice that used by its entire system currently.