Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 46

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

To the north, however, flaring remains com- CO2 into three oilfields in the offshore Santos
monplace in Iraq, though initiatives are ramping basin. The CCS project has been in operation
up to monetise gas and reduce emissions. since 2013 and has already injected 10mn tonnes
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that certain of CO2 into the fields. Petrobras hopes to bring
international operators developing assets in the total up to 40mn tonnes by 2025.
the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq have The NOC also serves as the head of the Bra-
reported less than 8kg of CO2 equivalent per zilian CCS Network, which published a CO2
barrel of oil equivalent (kgCO2e/boe), far below storage atlas for the country in 2015. The net-
some of the region’s top producers. Aramco, for work has also started work on at least 20 CCS
example, last year reported an upstream carbon research projects with the goal of supporting
intensity of 10.1 kgCO2e/boe. innovations in the capture, transport and stor-
age of CO2.levels.
Latin America
Efforts to develop CCS capacity are at a relatively South Africa
early stage in Latin America. The two countries South Africa has been one of the key players in
in the region that show the most promise on CCS initiatives in Africa. Its government estab-
this front are Mexico and Brazil, which have lished the South African Centre for Carbon
“
estimated CO2 storage potential of 100bn Capture & Storage (SACCCS) as a division of
tonnes and 4 trillion tonnes respectively. Both the state-owned South African National Energy
have explored their options and have launched Development Institute (SANEDI), in 2009. In Mexico and
a number of pilot projects, but Brazil has made turn, SANEDI became a member of the Global
more progress. CCS Institute in 2019. Brazil have
In Mexico, the Energy Ministry suggested in To date, SACCCS and SANEDI have mostly
its 2014 “Technology Roadmap on CCS” that focused on investigation of the technical feasi- estimated CO2
the government establish a national CCS strat- bility of proposed CO2 storage options. How-
egy and inventory, as well as a centre for techno- ever, they have also launched a Pilot Monitoring storage potential
logical research, development and testing. Since Project (PMP) to build capacity for CO2 mon- of 100bn
then, it has updated the report, identified a num- itoring, in line with the CCS Roadmap strategy
ber of research priorities and proposed several document adopted by the South African cabinet tonnes and 4
exploratory projects. in 2012, and it is due to be followed with a car-
Nevertheless, the country has not taken bon capture pilot plant (CCPP), for which the trillion tonnes
much in the way of action since the 2018 presi- World Bank will provide a technical assessment.
dential election. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, South Africa’s interest in CCS is not limited respectively
the populist candidate who won that vote, has to the public sector. Sasol, which is the country’s
shelved CCS initiatives, arguing that the Mexi- biggest corporate taxpayer, rolled out a new
can government does not have the funds needed 10-year carbon transformation plan just last
to pursue such projects. week.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s national oil company The company – which happens to be the
(NOC) Petrobras is looking for ways to integrate operator of one of the world’s largest individual
CCS into its upstream operations. To this end, it sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,
has launched Latin America’s only operational the Secunda coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant – is
CCS scheme: a group of pilot facilities off the currently in the first phase of its carbon trans-
coast of Rio de Janeiro. These facilities, located formation campaign. This plan aims to cut the
aboard four floating production, storage and company’s CO2 emissions by 10% on 2017 base-
off-loading (FPSO) vessels, capture and inject line levels by 2030. ™

Week 46 19•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9