The Santa Fe New Mexican from Santa Fe, New Mexico • 16

B-4 THE NEW MEXICAN Santa Fe, N.M Jan 29, 1980 Carbon dioxide unlock oil may LASL a national lab not a part of the Conoco investment, will cost $500,000 with the Department of Energy picking up the tab. Seven wells will be drilled on an inverted five-spot pattern one for injection, four to produce oil and two to log and monitor. Although the pilot is set up to last four years, technicians expect to spot trends and begin making evaluations in perhaps half that time. From this information a decision will be made on whether to put the entire unit on C02 flooding. A larger project would require, among other things, building a pipeline to bring in C02.

The 6,000 tons of gas to be used in the pilot stage will be trucked to the site. The C02 injection is expected to start in 1981. Shell has plans to build a C02 pipeline through New Mexico to carrry the gas from Colorado to the Wasson field in Texas, near Hobbs, N.M., says a spokesman for Techs petroleum recovery center. Amoco is planning a large C02 project of about 2,000 wells and also plans a C02 pipeline to the Permian Basin in West Texas. If those projects come about it is possible gas from the lines could be diverted for use in New Mexico.

The Maljamar project has special significance for New Mexico Tech. The schools Petroleum Recovery Research Center, founded with state energy funds five years ago, has worked closely with Conoco, performing a geological study of the Maljamar field and laboratory studies on how the gas can be expected to perform given the local crude and the peculiarities of the geologic formations. For this particular type of work, the DOE has provided $207,000 in research funds and the state, through its Energy and Minerals Department, $162,000. Now the work is coming out of the lab and into the field. Results that are more tangible to the average citizen, and taxpayer, soon will be evident.

This is a very timely project for both of us, says F.E. Tut Ellis, Conocos vice president for North American Production. The center has performed some very valuable work which will benefit the pro-ject. Sen. Bill Lee, D-Lea, a prime mover behind legislation that created the Petroleum Recovery Research Center, says he is particularly pleased to see the project going.

Even if we do nothing more than enhance the recovery by only one percent, it will be well worth It, he said. The concept of using carbon dioxide to get oil out of the ground in New Mexico has been bandied about for years, and now the concept is being tested here for the first time. MALJAMAR (AP) --The crew of a drilling rig set up in the rolling sandhills four miles southwest of here began an unusual assignment recently. They started to sink a 4, 100-foot shaft' destined to become New Mexicos first carbon dioxide injection well. When the shaft is in and other preparations are complete, the same kind of gas that puts fizz in your soda pop will be sent down the hole at high pressure to do its chemical magic.

And if all goes as planned it will unlock several million barrels of oil in the tight-fisted rocks of the MCA unit. Officials of Conoco Inc, which owns 75 percent of the MCA, and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology were in Maljamar recently to announce the project and inspect the site. Conoco will spend $3.1 million in capital and $1.1 million in operating costs over the next four years to install and run the pilot project. New Mexico Tech is supplying technical assistance through its Petroleum Recovery Research Center. They expect to obtain oil, of course, and to determine whether the C02 flooding pro-cec is feasible in the MCA and other New Mexico sites.

Miscible flooding with carbon dioxide, a tertiary recovery method, is designed to get the oil left behind by traditional pumping and water flooding recovery techniques. In an interesting twist, tins new technology is being introduced only a mile from the Maljamar discovery well of 1926, which opened oil production, in southeastern New Mexico. The MCA, which covers more than half the Maljamar field, has produced 49 million barrels of oil since 1963 when water flooding was initiated. But the two standard recovery processes have coaxed out only about half of the estimated 95 million barrels in the reservoir. What about the rest of it? Thats where tertiary recovery comes in, and in this case C02 may be the answer.

Experts say it could recover up to half, of the oil still in place. The C02 will be injected into the test area, which covers five acres, under carefully controlled conditions. Technicians want to know everything about what goes on underground because so much depends on what they learn from this testing. They will even pressure core a 200-foot section of the producing formation so that all fluids can be captured in-situ and analyzed in a frozen state. This step alone.

Due to the cost of hauling gas and other factors, the oil from the test project will be produced at a very high cost. But information. not production, is the immediate goal. ALBUQUERQUE (AP) Sandia Laboratories and Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory have been designated national laboratories. President Carters signature on the fiscal 1980 weapons authorization bill approved by Congress redesignated the two New Mexico facilities and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California, Sandia said.

Sandias official name now is Sandia National Laboratories, while Los Alamos becomes Los Alamos ational Scientific Laboratory. The California laboratory was designated as the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Four other Department of Energy laboratories already carry the "national designation: the Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Idaho ational Engineering Laboratory. King names veterans By The Associated Press Gov. Bruce King is seeking state Senate approval for his appointments of three persons to the state Veterans Service Commission.

The 1979 Legislature recreated the commission, which had been abolished during state government reorganization in 1978. The governor named Fidel Gonzales of Albuquerque, J.B. Buster Mulcock of Artesia, and James H. Black of Santa Fe as members of the new commission. He sent messages to the Senate Monday, asking for Its advice and consent, as required by law.

Drug charges dropped ALAMOGORDO (AP) District Attorney Frank Wilson has dismissed charges against a Minnesota man in connection with the seizure of 800-pounds of marijuana, saying the case was being turned over to federal authorities. Wilson said he dismissed charges Monday against Calvin 0. Wright because federal authorities intend to prosecute, Wilson said. The U.S. attorneys office "wished to handle the matter as a federal prosecution, Wilson said.

No federal charges have been filed, the U.S. attorneys office said. EID chief: Chemical site would benefit state associated costs to state industry could be significantly reduced with the establishment of a disposal site within the state, Baca said. Malone Co. notified Baca that it plans to submit a formal application for the waste disposal site within two months.

Baca said it will take the EID three to six months to review the application. waste transportation and disposal. Baca and other EID officials said much of the waste currently generated within New Mexico is disposed of in ways which may not be environmentally sound. Setting up a licensed disposal site would allow for safer and more highly controlled disposition of waste materials, he said. Considering the high degree of regulation on both federal and state levels, disposal facility near Hatch in northern Dona Ana County.

The Malone Co. of Texas City, Texas, told the state Environmental Improvement Division the facility would be a secure landfill for the treatment and disposal of various chemical industrial wastes. The project would not involve any radioactive waste materials. The company specializes in hazardous By The Associated Press Environmental Improvement Division Director Tom Baca says having a hazardous waste disposal site in New Mexico would be beneficial in ensuring proper disposal and management of industrial chemicals. A Texas firm has notified the state of its intent to establish a hazardous waste 1979 Exxon invested $6.2 billion in energy in 1979.

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