Page 14 - AsianOil Week 04 2023

AsianOil NEWS IN BRIEF AsianOil

receiving. as capturing and utilizing carbon. It will (HEPCO), and Japan Petroleum
Over the whole year, Chinese statistics work with Hokkaido Electric Power and oil Exploration Co., Ltd. (JAPEX), start a joint
showed it importing more gas, at $1.07 exploration company JAPEX. study for implementing CCUS (Carbon
billion, than Uzbekistan reported exporting, Eneos will partner with affiliate JX dioxide Capture, Utilization, and Storage)
at $910.9 million. That is a disparity of just Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration and J-Power in the Tomakomai area of Hokkaido,
over $159 million, or a little more than 18 to set up a joint venture in February to leveraging each company's business sites
percent. identify locations in western Japan for the and capabilities.
Uzbekistan’s Statistics Agency hit carbon storage. Under this project, carbon Following the Japanese government's
back with the explanation that this was a dioxide released from refineries and power declaration of "a Carbon-Neutrality in
perfectly “normal, natural situation,” given plants operated by Eneos and electricity 2050" in October 2020, the movement
differences in statistics reporting between provider J-Power will be captured and toward a decarbonized society is gaining
various countries. stored underground. momentum. Hokkaido prefecture also
To illustrate this, it published a table To facilitate the setting up of projects, the stated "ZERO Carbon Hokkaido" in March
highlighting data differences on the gas Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 2020 toward net zero emissions of Green
trade between the U.S. and Mexico. (METI) will draw up a law for submission at House Gas (GHG) and is actively making
In any case, the question of gas exports the next Diet session. efforts for the accomplishment. They
will soon be moot, if all goes to plan. The law will require businesses to obtain require energies without or with less GHG
Tashkent has pledged to end exports approval from the METI minister before emission, and they also expects for the
completely by 2025, to free up more gas for undertaking a carbon capture and storage early realization of CCUS to utilize and
domestic power generation as well as for the project. The new law would limit the store CO2 underground, as a technology
petrochemical industry. liability of the operators in case of carbon for contributing to CO2 net-zero emissions.
But the row once again highlighted dioxide leakage and other mishaps. In addition, the issues such as the need for
how this winter’s energy crisis – just the The METI has set a goal of capturing domestic laws for CCUS implementation
latest and most severe in a litany of them between 6 million and 12 million tons of are under discussion in the public and
– is undermining public confidence in carbon dioxide in fiscal 2030. A coal plant private sectors, including the "Study
the administration of President Shavkat with a generating capacity of 4 billion Meeting of CCS Long-Term Roadmap" led
Mirziyoyev. kilowatts a year produces 3.7 million tons of by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
carbon dioxide. Industry (METI).
The METI is set to select three to five The Tomakomai area has a concentration
Itochu, Eneos, others aim to CCS projects in the current fiscal year. of various industries around the port,
including the three companies' business
These projects could receive the same level
start carbon storage services in of financial support, such as tax breaks sites and is a leading region to make
efforts for a carbon-neutrality, such as a
and subsidies, as those in other developed
2030 economies, according to the METI. national demonstration project of CCS
The ministry will also support initiatives
implementation by Japan CCS Co., Ltd.,
Three Japanese business groups will begin to bury carbon dioxide overseas, such as in which participates in the private companies
projects aimed at offering large-scale carbon Southeast Asia, by injecting it into into oil including the three companies.
storage services in the country by fiscal and gas fields. With the view of the implementation
2030, Nikkei has learned. It remains to be seen whether CCS of a CCUS project by hub & cluster model
The projects have the backing of the will be economically viable, however, as connecting several sites in the Tomakomai
Japanese government as the industry it is more expensive than other emission- area by fiscal 2030, and the three companies
ministry aims to have a capability to store reduction technologies. For instance, will proceed specific investigations and
up to 12 million tons of carbon dioxide emission credits can be bought at a examinations, mainly such as technical
a year in Japan by fiscal 2030. This is lower price than the cost of collecting, verifications of CO2 emitting sites/
equivalent to emissions from up to three transporting and storing carbon dioxide, capture facilities/transportation pipelines
coal power plants. according to Kyoto-based Research Institute and site survey for CO2 storage, with the
The three groups are led by trading house of Innovative Technology for the Earth. The understanding and cooperation of local
Itochu and two energy companies Idemitsu METI believes that the cost of CCS needs to governments and the community. Besides,
Kosan and Eneos. be lowered by at least 40%. we will consider CO2 utilization align with
The Japanese government will support Still, CCS is considered an important the joint study.
the initiative with subsidies and by putting tool for achieving net-zero emissions. The The three companies will contribute
a regulatory framework in place for the International Energy Agency, for instance, to creating businesses and developing
project. estimates that up to 7.6 billion tons of industries and economies in the Tomakomai
Carbon capture and storage is a carbon dioxide needs to be collected a year area and will aim to realize "a Carbon-
technology already commercialized in 2050. Neutrality in 2050" and "ZERO-Carbon
overseas, but in Japan, it has only been Hokkaido."
trialed in a pilot project in Tomakomai, Note) * Hub & cluster model CCUS
Hokkaido. Idemitsu, HEPCO, and JAPEX project: not only to capture and storage
Among the three business groups, Itochu CO2 from a single emitting site as CCS,
will be responsible for the transportation Start a Joint Study for CCUS covers multiple emitting sites in the area
of carbon dioxide by ship to storage sites. and utilizes their emitting CO2 as CCUS to
Itochu will do this in partnership with Implementation in the reduce more CO2 emission.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, government-
backed oil company Inpex and construction Tomakomai Area of Hokkaido
company Taisei.
Idemitsu Kosan will be responsible Idemitsu Kosan Co.,Ltd. (Idemitsu),
for commercializing such technologies Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 27•January•2023