Blackstone to acquire and develop CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery Assets in the United States

Windy Cove Energy, LLC, Blackstone Energy Partners and affiliates of Blackstone, have announced the formation of Windy Cove and a concurrent commitment to invest up to US$700 million of equity to acquire and develop CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) assets in the United States.

Founded by Chuck Fox, its President and CEO, Windy Cove intends to be a leading producer of oil generated from CO2 EOR, a proven technology for recovering oil reserves from mature oil fields.Mr. Fox stated:

More than 20 billion barrels of oil are estimated to be recoverable from CO2 flooding in the United States. Many fields that are amenable to CO2 EOR are held by operators without the capital, expertise, or desire to execute a CO2 EOR operation. We believe that Windy Cove’s extensive CO2 operating experience together with Blackstone’s strong capital base, industry relationships and experience, and successful track record of investing in energy, and the oil and gas sector specifically, will allow Windy Cove to stand apart as the partner of choice for companies seeking joint ventures or exits for their CO2-amenable water flooded assets.

Angelo Acconcia, a Managing Director of Blackstone Energy Partners, who oversees their oil and gas investments commented:

The Windy Cove management team has a very strong technical and operational track record of managing large and complicated projects to optimize the long-term production and return on capital for their partners. Chuck and his team are incredibly talented operators who are uniquely situated to contribute significant operational expertise to future opportunities and partnerships, having successfully played a key leadership role at Shell’s and Kinder Morgan’s CO2 businesses for nearly 20 years.

Blackstone Senior Managing Director and CEO of Blackstone Energy Partners, David Foley, adde:

Our partnership with Windy Cove is consistent with our strategy of backing best-in-class managers to build world class companies in the oil and gas industry and across the energy spectrum. By providing revenue to providers of CO2 as well as putting that CO2 back deep underground, companies like Windy Cove can play a positive role in encouraging coal-fired power generation facilities and other sources of CO2 emissions to instead capture that CO2 for use in recovering oil from existing mature fields right here in the United States.