large carbon credits..

ELK is Expected to sequester 9.5mil tonnes of co2 at Greive.

CO2 currently trades at just under $5aus a ton in the US...however in Europe were they have signed the Kyoto protocol it trades around $45aus a ton...

"Last month, New Carbon Finance, a research firm, predicted that the U.S. carbon market could be valued at $1 trillion by 2020 if Congress passes a federal “cap-and-trade” system after the next presidential election"

If the US was to pass a cap and trade then based on EU prices we could be looking at upwards of $400mil in carbon credits for the Muddy project...any success with the upper sands would most likely see them undergo co2 flood at a later date as well....Why buy into a co2 company when you can have the same bussiness for free with ELK...COZ a co2 company listed on the Aus stock Exchange has a fully diluted market cap of $175mil....so it is serious bussiness...


Carbon prices in Europe highest in two years
LEIGH PHILLIPS

09.06.2008 @ 09:27 CET

Carbon prices in the European Union have hit their highest level in two years on the back of spiralling oil prices.

The benchmark EU carbon contract for December delivery of EU allowances climbed to €27.54 on the European Climate Exchange – Europe's bourse for carbon credits - on Friday (6 June), according to Carbon Positive, a carbon offset management company.


Carbon prices are their highest in 25 months (Photo: EUobserver.com)
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The price is the highest carbon allowances have seen in 25 months, having risen some 40 percent in the last four months alone.

The rise is attributed by traders to the skyrocketing price for oil, which reached $139 a barrel before easing slightly Friday – jumping $10.75 in one day – the biggest single on-day price increase on record. The increase came atop a five percent rise the day before – totalling a $16-dollar hike in two days.

As oil prices escalate, power companies switch over to coal, which is cheaper but dirtier, requiring additional carbon allowances and pushing up the price of carbon.

The prices are a return to form for the European carbon market following the collapse of carbon prices after the over-allocation of credits in the first phase of the EU emissions trading scheme.

Carbon prices also dropped to €19 in February of this year on fears that a declining global economy would produce diminished demand for energy.

However, despite continued economic uncertainty, climbing oil prices have wiped out the effect of these worries on carbon prices.

Parallel to the price for EU allowances (EUAs), certified emissions reductions (CERs) have also risen steadily in the last month, climbing above €20 for the first time and closing at €20.30 on Friday.

CERs are carbon offset credits – issued under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – whereby a reduction of carbon emissions through projects in developing countries – such as the planting of trees or the clean-up of refrigerator factories - can be used to offset emissions in industrialised countries. One CER is equivalent to a tonne of CO2.

European buyers are the major influence on the market for CERs, which can be used as offsets within the ETS. Rising oil prices are having an effect on the price of CERs as well, along with expectations that the number CDM projects in China will drop following the earthquake in Sichuan province.

The tightening of the issuance of CERs by the CDM auditors in the wake of the exposure of a number of projects of questionable environmental benefit is also pushing the price up.