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Urban Oil & Gas outlines plan for large carbon-sequestration hub in central Utah; lawmakers press safety, economics and ownership questions
Summary
Representatives of Urban Oil & Gas and partners told the committee that central Utah's geology and nearby large emitters make the area a promising carbon capture and storage hub, but lawmakers asked how groundwater, water injection history, long-term economics and pore-space ownership would be protected and structured.
Matt Kirby, president of Urban Oil & Gas, and Michael (last name provided in introduction as Michael Schneider) briefed the Energy and Technology Interim Committee on the Utah Carbon Sequestration Initiative and a large pore‑space lease Urban has negotiated with the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA). Kirby said Utah has a geology and nearby emitters that make a large sequestration hub commercially and scientifically plausible. "We're on the doorsteps of creating the premier regional solution for carbon management," Kirby said.
Urban representatives said the proposed target — deep Navajo formation at roughly 4,000–5,000 feet — has porosity and permeability favorable for storage, is seismically stable and has nearby natural analogues where CO2 has been trapped for geologic time. "To our east of our proposed hub, we see evidence where the same formation has securely held CO2 for millions of years," Michael said during technical slides. Urban estimated the hub could store hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 over…
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