The money was awarded through the Energy Department's Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership Program.

The Energy Department's seventh large-scale carbon capture and sequestration project will be led by Montana State University-Bozeman.

A large-volume test will be conducted in the Nugget Sandstone formation to ensure that the 2 million tons of carbon dioxide can be stored safely, permanently and economically. The carbon, supplied by Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE:XEC), will be injected into a well and observed.

The project is estimated to cost $130.6 million, including this $66.9 million third phase.