NATCHEZ &8212; Rentech signed a preliminary agreement Tuesday with a local petroleum company to use the 2,400 tons a day of carbon dioxide Rentech&8217;s proposed Adams County plant would produce.

Rentech officials said a memorandum of understanding had been reached Tuesday afternoon with the company, which they won&8217;t name until a final contract is signed, said Joseph Rengery, Rentech&8217;s director of project development.

Rentech officials said they will fit the plant, now set to open in 2011 if needed state and federal incentives come through, with technology that will capture the carbon dioxide left over when coal is gasified.

All of the gas will then be sold to the petroleum company, which would inject it into oil wells to force to the surface oil that would otherwise remain dormant.

&8220;This is great news,&8221; said Darryl Grennell, president of the Adams County Board of Supervisors.

The potential for oil production and other spinoff business, he said, is one reason &8220;we urg the state to go ahead and pass this legislation&8221; giving the project $15 million.