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options and have launched a number of pilot network has also started work on at least 20
projects, but Brazil has made more progress. CCS research projects with the goal of sup-
In Mexico, the Energy Ministry suggested in porting innovations in the capture, transport
its 2014 “Technology Roadmap on CCS” that and storage of CO2.
the government establish a national CCS strat-
egy and inventory, as well as a centre for techno- South Africa
logical research, development and testing. Since South Africa has been one of the key players in
then, it has updated the report, identified a num- CCS initiatives in Africa. Its government formed
ber of research priorities and proposed several the South African Centre for Carbon Capture &
exploratory projects. Storage (SACCCS), a division of the state-owned
Nevertheless, the country has not taken South African National Energy Development
much in the way of action since the 2018 presi- Institute (SANEDI), in 2009. In turn, SANEDI
dential election. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, became a member of the Global CCS Institute
the populist candidate who won that vote, has in 2019.
shelved CCS initiatives, arguing that the Mexi- To date, SACCCS and SANEDI have mostly
can government does not have the funds needed focused on investigation of the technical feasi-
to pursue such projects. bility of proposed CO2 storage options. How-
Meanwhile, Brazil’s national oil company ever, they have also launched a Pilot Monitoring
(NOC) Petrobras is looking for ways to inte- Project (PMP) to build the country’s capacity for
grate CCS into its upstream operations. To CO2 monitoring. The project is in line with the
this end, it has launched Latin America’s only CCS Roadmap strategy document adopted by
operational CCS scheme: a group of pilot the South African cabinet in 2012, and it is due
facilities off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. These to be followed with a carbon capture pilot plant
facilities, located aboard four floating produc- (CCPP), for which the World Bank will provide
tion, storage and off-loading (FPSO) vessels, a technical assessment.
capture and inject CO2 into three oilfields South Africa’s interest in CCS is not limited
in the offshore Santos basin – Lapa, Lula and to the public sector. Sasol, which is the coun-
Sapinhoá. The CO2 injections help maintain try’s biggest corporate taxpayer, rolled out a
reservoir pressure and maximise yields while new 10-year carbon transformation plan just
also curbing emissions. last week. The company – which happens to be
The CCS project has been in operation since the operator one of the world’s largest individual
2013 and has already injected 10mn tonnes of sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,
CO2 into the fields. Petrobras hopes to bring the the Secunda coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant – is
total up to 40mn tonnes by 2025. currently in the first phase of its carbon transfor-
The NOC also serves as the head of the mation campaign. This plan aims to cut the com-
Brazilian CCS Network, which published a pany’s CO2 emissions by 10% on 2017 baseline
CO2 storage atlas for the country in 2015. The levels by 2030.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 19•November•2020