Technology from the USA that uses gas from an extinct volcano to extract more oil from mature fields is to be examined by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks. Mr Wicks will be visiting Denbury Resources Inc., an American oil and gas company, whose Enhanced Oil Recovery techniques could be used to obtain a further 17% of reserves from fields in the North Sea which are nearing the end of their life. Carbon dioxide, which occurs naturally, is extracted from an extinct volcano deep underground near to Jackson city in Mississippi. It is then piped 60mi to Brookhaven where it is pressurised and then used to force out oil.
