Denbury Approves CO2 EOR Project At Cedar Creek Anticline

Denbury Resources Inc. (NYSE:DNR) recently announced that it has approved a carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project at the Cedar Creek Anticline (CCA), a 125-mile geological feature. Notably, the company has around 175 thousand acres in the region that contains almost 5 billion barrels of oil.

About the Project

Denbury expects to recover more than 400 million barrels of oil with the help of the project. The company anticipates the cost of the project – until the first tertiary production – to be around $250 million, which can be drawn from its cash flow and other sources. Moreover, Denbury expects initial tertiary production to start at 2021-end or early-2022.

Denbury expects the first two phases of the EOR project to bring in a total of $3 billion free cash flow if the price of oil stays at $60 per barrel, and improve the cash flow scenario, which was negative in four out of last nine years.

While phase one of the project targets 30 million barrels of recoverable oil from the Red River formation, phase two will target about 100 million barrels from the Interlake, Stony Mountain and Red River formations. Future phases of the project will target 300 million barrels of recoverable oil from the same regions.

Price Performance

Plano, TX-based upstream energy company, Denbury has lost 36.8% in the past year compared with 28.4% fall of its industry.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Currently, Denbury carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Investors interested in the Energy sector can opt for some better-ranked stocks like Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CLR) , Delek US Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DK) and HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE:HFC) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Oklahoma City, OK-based Continental Resources is an upstream energy company. The company’s top line for 2018 is anticipated to improve 57.7% year over year. In the last four reported quarters, the company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 80.5%.

Brentwood, TN-based Delek is an energy company. The company’s top line for 2018 is anticipated to improve 39.2% year over year, while its bottom line is expected to increase 293.7%.

Dallas, TX-based HollyFrontier is an independent refining company. For 2018, its bottom line is likely to be up 153%. In the last four reported quarters, the company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 41.3%.

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