Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 46

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

Australia methodology for CCS, as carbon credits
When the Australian government unveiled were essential to making the project “stack up
its ambitions in late September for a hydrogen economically.”
industry that would feed both domestic and for- Taylor welcomed the announcement, telling the
eign demand, Canberra also highlighted CCS’ Sydney Morning Herald that work on the CCS
potential in decarbonising the industry. methodology was “progressing rapidly”. He
The process would allow the country’s exten- added: “Australia has a comparative advantage
sive natural gas industry to begin transitioning in CCS with a number of large geological storage
into the production of carbon neutral, or “clean”, basins. Successful trials like this are important to
blue hydrogen. This could be sold overseas or the development of CCS in Australia, which will
blended in domestic gas pipeline networks, with create jobs and lower emissions.”
some industry observers suggesting that current
renewable gas blends of up to 10% could rise to Middle East
100% hydrogen by 2050. Qatar is the world’s biggest LNG exporter and
In announcing the government’s technology like some of its US rivals, it too is looking to
roadmap, Australian Energy Minister Angus sequester CO2 at its export facilities. The gov-
Taylor said AUD18bn ($13.18bn) of funding had ernment revealed in October last year it had a
been earmarked for a portfolio of low-emissions plant in operation capable of capturing some
technologies that included “clean” hydrogen. 2.1mn tpy of CO2. It aims to ramp up the plant’s
Taylor has now urged the local industry to capacity to 5mn tpy by 2024 and 7mn tpy by
step up its efforts to integrate CCS into their blue 2027, hailing the project as the largest CCS
hydrogen projects in order to deliver on Canber- investment in the Middle East and North Africa.
ra’s export-orientated goals. He was reportedly Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is also at the
preparing to deliver a speech to the Australian forefront of the Middle East’s carbon, capture,
Hydrogen Conference this week that industry utilisation and storage (CCUS) push, with the
and government needed to work hand in hand circular carbon economy firmly in the sights of
in order to attract AUD70bn ($51.26bn) worth NOCs Saudi Aramco and ADNOC.
of investment over the next decade. Aramco has been working on CO2-based
“Clean hydrogen has enormous potential to EOR at the ‘Uthmaniyah field in Eastern Prov-
be an important part of the shift to lower emis- ince. This received a boost from the recent pilot
sions,” local daily the Sydney Morning Herald project launched with Japan’s Institute of Energy
quoted on November 15 Taylor’s planned speech Economics to generate blue ammonia from
as stating. hydrogen produced from hydrocarbons, with
His reported comments come just weeks the resultant CO2 being split between the Jubail
after Santos revealed that the country was one Methanol plant and EOR at ‘Uthmaniyah.
step closer to its first commercial CCS project. Meanwhile, ADNOC last week agreed a
The company said on October 22 that it intended deal with French super-major Total to explore
to take a FID on its Moomba CCS project by the opportunities in emissions reductions and
end of the year. CCUS. The Emirati firm has plans to cut green-
The company said it had successfully house gas (GHG) intensity by 25% by 2030,
pumped around 100 tonnes of CO2 into the while its 800,000 tpy Al Reyadah CCUS facility
depleted Strzelecki gas field in the Cooper Basin is expected to grow rapidly with a target in place
as part of the project’s final field trial. Once on to capture 5mn tpy of CO2 by the same date.
stream, the 1.7mn tpy project promises to be one Oman has long been leading the pack in
of the world’s cheapest CCS sites. terms of EOR and the Sultanate is also develop-
Santos managing director and CEO ing a commercial-scale hydrogen facility at the
Kevin Gallagher said the FID hinged on the port of Duqm as Muscat seeks to diversify its
Clean Energy Regulator issuing an approved economy away from oil and gas.

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