EERC's Crack the Code 2.0 Aims to Unlock More Oil from Bakken Formation

The University of North Dakota's Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) is leading a project to unlock more oil from the Bakken Formation in western North Dakota. The Bakken has been fueling the state's economy for over two decades, generating $35 billion in tax revenue and creating thousands of jobs.

However, as wells mature, the challenge isn't finding the remaining oil but recovering it. To address this issue, the EERC is working on a project called 'Crack the Code 2.0' (CTC2.0), which aims to demonstrate enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies at pilot scale.

CTC2.0 builds on the breakthrough that transformed the Bakken over a decade ago through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, unlocking billions of barrels of oil. The project has received a $36 million federal award for phase one, bringing its total investment to at least $157 million through a combination of federal, state, and private funding.

EOR relies on injecting gases into the reservoir to mobilize the next fraction of the hundreds of billions of barrels of oil remaining in the reservoir. The project will use produced gas from existing oil operations to evaluate EOR technologies and gather critical field data.