Page 13 - NorthAmOil Week 46

NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil

Qatar is seeking to
sequester CO2 at its
LNG export facilities.

Houston Chronicle. Almost a dozen of these are Santos revealed that the country was one step
being planned along the Gulf Coast, with Louisi- closer to its first commercial CCS project. The
ana increasingly keen to position itself as a CO2 company said on October 22 that it intended to
storage hub. Similar geography exists in Texas, take a FID on its Moomba CCS project by the
which would also have extensive aquifers and end of the year.
depleted oilfields that could potentially be used The company said it had successfully pumped
for storing CO2. But Texas – the largest CO2 around 100 tonnes of CO2 into the depleted
emitter in the US – has not yet shown the same Strzelecki gas field in the Cooper Basin as part
state-level enthusiasm as Louisiana to proceed of the project’s final field trial. Once on stream,
with wide-scale CCS development. the 1.7mn tpy project promises to be one of the
world’s cheapest CCS sites.
Australia Santos managing director and CEO Kevin
When the Australian government unveiled Gallagher said the FID hinged on the Clean
its ambitions in late September for a hydrogen Energy Regulator issuing an approved meth-
industry that would feed both domestic and for- odology for CCS, because carbon credits
eign demand, Canberra also highlighted CCS’ were essential to making the project “stack up
potential in decarbonising the industry. economically”.
The process would allow the country’s exten- Taylor welcomed the announcement, telling
sive natural gas industry to begin transitioning the Sydney Morning Herald that work on the
into the production of carbon neutral, or “clean”, CCS methodology was “progressing rapidly”. He
blue hydrogen. This could be sold overseas or added: “Australia has a comparative advantage in
blended in domestic gas pipeline networks, with CCS with a number of large geological storage
some industry observers suggesting that current basins. Successful trials like this are important to
renewable gas blends of up to 10% could rise to the development of CCS in Australia, which will
100% hydrogen by 2050. create jobs and lower emissions.” EOR is also at
In announcing the government’s technology Beyond the energy sector, however, Austral-
roadmap, Australian Energy Minister Angus ian companies are mulling other ways to use the forefront of
Taylor said AUD18bn ($13.18bn) of funding had CCS’ potential to preserve valuable streams of the Middle East’s
been earmarked for a portfolio of low-emissions export revenue.
technologies that included “clean” hydrogen. The country’s largest miner, BHP, said last carbon, capture,
Taylor has now urged the local industry to week that it had entered into a five-year mem-
step up its efforts to integrate CCS into their blue orandum of understanding (MoU) with China utilisation and
hydrogen projects in order to deliver on Canber- Baowu Steel to study ways to slash the steel sec-
ra’s export-orientated goals. tor’s carbon emissions. Under the MoU, BHP storage (CCUS)
Taylor was reportedly preparing to deliver will invest AUD50mn ($36.6mn) in a feasibility push.
a speech to the Australian Hydrogen Confer- studying for a CCS project at one of the Chinese
ence this week that industry and government steelmaker’s largest production sites, as well as
needed to work hand in hand in order to attract using hydrogen to feed its blast furnaces.
AUD70bn ($51.26bn) worth of investment over
the next decade. Middle East
“Clean hydrogen has enormous potential to Qatar is the world’s biggest LNG exporter and
be an important part of the shift to lower emis- like some of its US rivals, it too is looking to
sions,” local daily the Sydney Morning Herald sequester CO2 at its export facilities. The gov-
quoted on November 15 Taylor’s planned speech ernment revealed in October last year it had a
as stating. plant in operation capable of capturing some
His reported comments come just weeks after 2.1mn tpy of CO2. It aims to ramp up the plant’s

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