The Appropriations - Education and Environment Division reviewed a request to increase funding for the Oil and Gas Research Fund and heard results of a recent study on carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery during a committee meeting. Senator Dale Patton, who opened the session, said the division would consider “a substantial request for funding for the Oil and Gas Research Fund.”

The request endorsed by industry leaders would provide $60,000,000 to the Oil and Gas Research Council, with a 1:1 match expected so the appropriation leverages at least an equal amount in outside funds, proponents said. Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, described the proposal as a “$60,000,000 investment by the North Dakota legislature” intended to fund multiple pilot and demonstration projects over roughly four years and to make project results public through the research council.

The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) presented a technical and economic overview of carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Charles Gorecki, CEO of the EERC, summarized an EERC study conducted under direction from a Bank of North Dakota–led review requested in House Bill 1492. Gorecki said modeled, plausible scenarios of 5 million to 20 million tons of CO2 per year available to North Dakota could yield from several hundred million to roughly 1 billion barrels of incremental oil over 20 years and store hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 in the subsurface. He highlighted assumptions used in the study, including base‑case CO2 use of about 0.3 tons per barrel and an improved oil recovery ratio of roughly 1.3 (about three barrels of oil per ton of CO2 in the base case), and he cautioned the team used multiple high/low scenarios for CO2 availability and recovery efficiency.

Brian Krashes, tax commissioner, presented a fiscal analysis that used EERC production scenarios to estimate state revenue impacts. Using an $80 per barrel Bakken price in the model, Krashes said a single targeted well could generate roughly $500,000 to $700,000 in incremental state revenue over a multi‑year period, and statewide application at scale could produce billions in additional tax receipts over time. He noted competition from other states and the current federal tax treatment under Internal Revenue Code section 45Q, which provides higher credits for dedicated geologic sequestration ($85/ton in the version cited) than for CO2 used in EOR ($60/ton as cited), creating a $25/ton differential that affects project economics.

Industry witnesses stressed timing and scale. Ron Ness said North Dakota has a “world‑class resource” and urged a program that would fund 10–15 pilots and share public results. John Argo, vice president, Williston Basin at Continental Resources, told the committee state support would encourage companies to field projects that otherwise compete poorly for private capital because EOR pilots can be longer‑dated and have slower paybacks than drilling wells for immediate production.

Committee members asked about CO2 supply and pipeline access. Gorecki pointed to existing CO2 pipeline infrastructure — for example, a line from the Dakota Gasification Plant that has transported CO2 for decades, including to Weyburn, Canada — and described both domestic capture prospects (power plants, ethanol facilities) and the need for more capture and transport capacity to reach larger Bakken deployment.

Proponents framed the appropriation as research‑oriented and competitive. Ron Ness and others said funds would flow through the Oil and Gas Research Council in grant rounds, with projects required to match state dollars. The proponents emphasized pilots already done at small scale, a Department of Energy award for a planned 18‑month demonstration with Cord Energy to inject about 500,000 tons of CO2, and the goal of moving toward commercial threshold projects on the order of 1 million tons per year.

No formal vote or appropriation was taken during the meeting. Committee leadership said the division was gathering information and would return to the funding request in a later meeting.