The EnCana Corporation was named a winner of the Climate Change award from the Alberta Emerald Foundation for their Weyburn CO2 project.

The awards for environmental excellence were presented in Calgary on June 6 at a gala ceremony event, with 12 recipients chosen out of 106 nominations.

EnCana's project, using carbon dioxide to enhance the recovery of oil, was chosen as it stores the CO2 underground rather than releasing it into the air.

"For the people who work here every day, to receive this recognition gives the people a sense of satisfaction," said Darcy Cretin, operations superintendent for the Weyburn unit.

Dan Schiller, vice-president of the Eastern Oil Business Unit which includes the Weyburn project, noted the environmental award recognized the excellence of the project and its role.

"We're extremely proud of it, as this is one of the most prestigious awards of this type, and we're also proud of all the people involved in the Weyburn project," he said Friday, during a visit by EnCana officials to Weyburn.

According to a summary of EnCana's project, it was designed to contribute significantly to the understanding of greenhouse gas management, particularly the feasibility of long-term storage of this greenhouse gas in geological formations.

"This project constitutes the largest, full-scale in-the-field scientific study ever conducted in the world involving CO2 storage. The Weyburn project has stored approximately 8.7 million tonnes of CO2 to date, and over the lifetime of the EOR project, it is projected that an additional 30 million tonnes of CO2 will be sequestered. This is equivalent to removing 6.8 million cars off the road for a year," said the summary.

The corporation is further commended as the project is providing an opportunity "for Canada to develop expertise and potentially become the world leader in CO2 geological storage, monitoring and assessment."

The decision to award EnCana with this award was based on a set of four criteria, including their commitment to preservation, protection, enhancement or sustainability of the environment and the positive, tangible and long-term impact on the quality of the air, water or land.

Other criteria included preservation of biological diversity; climate change/greenhouse gases; and public or corporate attitudes towards the environment.