not sure if this was posted already here, is this true? from the...

not sure if this was posted already here, is this true? from the Uganda Daily Monitor

Uganda can still cash in on carbon dioxide
Muhereza Kyamutetera
KAMPALA
In December 2004, Heritage Oil and Gas, one of the exploring companies, said that they had discovered two potential hydrocarbon-bearing zones at their Turaco-3 well with an 80 percent concentration of carbon dioxide.

Through casing drill stem tests, flow rates of between 8 to 12 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmcf/d) were established.
It was also estimated that with better equipment, this would come to 60 mmcf/d.

Dirty oil
The discovery of the high levels of carbon dioxide (80 percent) in the hydrocarbons caused heritage to abandon the well.

The highly carbon dioxide contaminated hydrocarbons could also not be commercially exploited for energy generation, consequently causing Heritage to seal and abandon the well.

Mr Reuben Kashambuzi, Commissioner Petroleum Exploration in the ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, in an interview with Daily Monitor said carbon dioxide has very many uses among which is secondary extraction of petroleum.

"If we for example now prove commercial quantities of oil anywhere in the Albertine Graaben we hope to utilise this gas in secondary enhanced recovery of petroleum from the ground. This is because as you keep on extracting oil, the pressure in the reservoir reduces and you must now inject gas or water to force the oil up to the surface," he said.


AVAILABLE: Uganda can exploit its carbon dioxide resource for fire extinguishers. Photo by Peter Wadri.
He added that carbon dioxide is more effective because it is a volatile gas.

"We have a very valuable resource there. We are already talking to people who are interested in buying this gas and they were looking at the possibility of taking it to Sudan or Chad, which are already in oil production. But if we discover the oil in Uganda, then we can also use the gas in our own fields," he said.

"We have not done a complete analysis. There could be billons of cubic feet of carbon dioxide because the original structure is more extensive than we originally imagined. We had originally estimated the Turaco-3 to be 11 square kilometers but it is now 77 square kilometers and there is a possibility that there could be more," he added.

Kashambuzi said the gas, though discovered by Heritage Oil and in a block originally licensed to Heritage oil, it does not belong to them.

He said: "The carbon dioxide does not conform to the provisions that we have for gas and oil prospecting. It will now be treated as any other mineral and will be subject to the mineral law because it is not classified as a hydrocarbon and can't be subject to the Petroleum Act and regulations. If they (Heritage) want to exploit the gas, they will have to get another product sharing agreement which could be different from the one we have for oil or the same especially if the company is not interested in the carbon dioxide."

Contract
If heritage wants to keep the area in which they have found the carbon dioxide after the expiry of their exploration license, they will then have to rent the land at $500 per square kilometer.
Exploration companies are required to pay fees ranging from $2.5 to $7.5 per square kilometer during the exploration phase.

There are four companies/partnerships scanning 22,000 square kilometers for oil in western Uganda. They are: Heritage Oil and Gas, Energy Africa/Tullow Oil, Hardman Petroleum Africa (Pty) Ltd and Neptune Petroleum Uganda Ltd.
Hardman recently announced they had hit some oil reserves though they are yet to establish the commerciality of the findings