Page 4 - AsiaElec Week 45 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Another international

partnership moves

Chinese CCUS forward

COMMENTARY SHELL signed a memorandum of understand- underway, but only with a total capacity of 3mn
ing (MoU) with China’s Sinopec and Baowu, and tpy. And most of these developments are used
Germany’s BASF, last week, on exploring the to bolster oil recovery, by pumping CO2 into
feasibility of developing an open-source carbon underground reservoirs.
capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) site in the “In a net-zero emissions energy system, a
East China region. little more than 1.3 Gt of CO2 a year will need
The project could offer industries in the mid- to be captured and permanently stored in 2060.
dle and lower parts of the Yangtze River region This means CCUS capacity will need to increase
the chance to capture and store their CO2 more than 400 times in the next four decades,”
emissions on a contractual basis, Shell said on Shell said. “While this is technically possible, as
November 4. many of the CCUS technologies in China are
“The four parties intend to conduct a joint close to or have reached commercialisation,
study to assess the technical solutions and the main challenge lies in creating conditions
develop a commercial model for the project. The to support substantial investment in large-scale
study will also explore how to establish high-in- CCUS, particularly as a solution to industrial
tegrity and verified low-carbon product supply decarbonisation.”
chains and propose enabling policies. If success- Shell also has conventional oil and gas oper-
ful, it will be China’s first large-scale open-source ations in Shell, working alongside PetroChina
CCUS project with a potential capacity of tens and CNOOC to develop onshore and offshore
of million tonnes of CO2 per year,” added Shell. fields. Among these is the Changbei onshore gas
Shell’s downstream director, Huibert deposit, where Shell works with PetroChina. The
Vigeveno, stressed the importance of CCUS in UK oil major is also one of the main suppliers of
tackling emissions from hard-to-bate sectors. LNG into China.
“This project is also in line with Shell’s stra-
tegic approach to provide decarbonisation solu- Chinese CCS gains momentum
tions to individual market sectors, as well as our It has been China’s largest oil and gas companies
ambition of having access to at least 25mn tonnes that have spearheaded CCUS development,
per year [tpy] of CCS capacity by 2035,” he said. leveraging their funding access and expertise.
The emissions captured from industry could CCUS now appears to be gaining traction after
then be delivered to a receiving terminal on a slow start, ever since Chinese President Xi Jin-
board CO2 carrier ships, and then to onshore ping committed the country two years ago to
and offshore storage sites via pipelines. Shell peaking its carbon emissions before the end of
said this would offer a flexible, efficient and inte- this decade, and then bringing them to net zero
grated decarbonisation option for companies by 2060. The next critical step will be to create the
working in the region. right conditions to foster substantial investment
According to Shell, China could store as in large-scale CCUS.
much as 2,500 gigatonnes of carbon, giving its Sinopec, which is the country’s largest oil
second largest potential storage capacity after refiner, launched its first megaton-scale CCUS
the US. It currently has 40 CCUS pilot projects project at the mature Shengli field in the eastern

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