Page 5 - GLNG Week 23 2022
P. 5
GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG
foray into CCS for Chevron. The super-major What next?
also announced in mid-May that it was launch- According to the Global CCS Institute, there
ing a CCS development in California aimed at were 27 operational CCS facilities around the
reducing the carbon intensity of its operations world as of 2021 and a further 106 under devel-
in the San Joaquin Valley. opment or already in construction. With the
However, it emerged at the same time that industry still at such an early stage it still needs
Chevron and Schlumberger had withdrawn to be demonstrated that carbon capture will be
an application for a carbon capture permit for effective at helping the oil industry – and the
a separate project in central California. The world more broadly – to decarbonise.
withdrawal stemmed from a request from the Indeed, critics have pointed to underper-
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), formance and operational issues at CCS facilities
which had said the application was “substantially such as the one intended for capturing emissions
incomplete” and had failed to provide financial from Chevron’s Gorgon LNG project in Aus-
assurances for that project. tralia as evidence that CCS should not be relied
Chevron and Schlumberger said they had upon to perform to its full potential. But industry
opted to withdraw the permit application but sources contend that as more companies partic-
would continue “to gather and evaluate pro- ipate in CCS development, this will help to both
ject information”. However, given the timing of improve the technology and its performance and
Chevron’s announcement about the San Joaquin bring down costs.
Valley CCS project, it appears likely that the Either way, CCS projects will find themselves
super-major is turning its attention to similar under the spotlight as more come online while
developments elsewhere. national decarbonisation targets for 2030 and
Also at around the same time in mid-May, BP beyond loom. The industry will be under pres-
and Linde announced that they were partnering sure to demonstrate that CCS is effective.
on a “major” CCS project in Texas. That pro- There is still a long way to go until this point,
ject is part of a blue hydrogen venture entailing and given the speed with which new CCS ven-
production of hydrogen from natural gas, while tures are being announced, there will be sig-
emissions are captured and sequestered. The nificantly more carbon capture capacity under
partners said the project would also support the development in the not-too-distant future com-
storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) captured from pared with today. While competition could well
other facilities in the Texas Gulf Coast industrial emerge in other regions, it appears that the US is
corridor. likely to continue leading the way, with the high-
est number of projects being planned.
Week 23 10•June•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P5
