Hoeven Secures $36 Million for Crack the Code 2.0 Phase One

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today announced he has secured a total of $36 million in federal funding from the Department of Energy (DOE) for Crack the Code 2.0, putting in place the final funding piece for phase one of the $157 million initiative. Hoeven announced the federal funding at a press conference today with North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness to outline the federal, state and industry effort to Crack the Code 2.0 and partner North Dakota’s oil and coal industries with the goals of: Doubling oil recovery in the Bakken. Doubling the life of North Dakota’s coal-fired power plants. Hoeven has been working with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and his team at DOE to finalize the federal award. To this end, Hoeven met in Grand Forks with both Secretary Wright and DOE Assistant Secretary Kyle Haustveit, the University of North Dakota (UND) Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) and energy producers to advance this initiative. The phase one funding, which also includes $76 million in private investment and $45.1 million in state funding, will be used to develop large-scale pilot projects to advance the technical and commercial viability of EOR in the Bakken. Crack the Code 2.0 is further supported by a policy Hoeven worked to secure in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OB3), also known as the Working Families Tax Cut Act, to properly align the 45Q tax credit to incentivize the use of CO2 for EOR. Doing so supports coal producers’ continued operations by providing access to a new revenue stream through selling CO2 to oil producers, while providing a strong, long-term incentive for EOR, making it the clear, commercially-viable choice to improve oil recovery in the Bakken. “By securing this $36 million in federal funding for Crack the Code 2.0, we are taking a major step forward in efforts to partner North Dakota’s oil and coal producers and provide a more solid foundation for the future of both of these essential industries,” said Hoeven. “EOR has the potential to double both the oil recovery rate in formations like the Bakken and the life of our coal-fired power plants. Doing so benefits not only North Dakota, but is essential to the economic security of all Americans, who will continue to have access to reliable and affordable energy produced right here in the U.S.” -###-