Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 24 2021

AsiaElec CS AsiaElec

Japanese developers to boost oil,

gas production with CCS

ASIA JAPANESE developers are studying the use of technology at overseas oil and gas fields in the
carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology future,” the joint statement said.
in domestic upstream projects as they strive to The partners added that they would reform
boost output while also reducing emissions. their energy business in order to reach net-zero
Inpex has teamed up with state-affiliated emissions by 2050, while also meeting “their
Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (JOG- responsibility for the development and stable
MEC) to implement a carbon dioxide (CO2) supply of energy over the long term”.
enhanced oil recovery (EOR) pilot test at the Their announcement came a week after Mit-
Minami-aga oilfield in Niigata Prefecture, they subishi Gas Chemical (MGC) and Japan Petro-
revealed in a joint statement on June 4. leum Exploration (JAPEX) unveiled a similar
The two companies, which began studying ambition for their Niigata-based operations.
the project in April, hope to demonstrate the MGC and JAPEX said on May 28 that they
effectiveness of CO2 foam-based EOR tech- had agreed to jointly study using CO2 at both
nology that is still under development. The MGC’s petrochemical plant as well as the com-
technique aims to enhance oil production by panies’ Higashi-Niigata gas field.
uniformly sweeping reservoirs with a CO2 foam MGC will start a study on the potential for the
that has greater apparent viscosity. They intend commercial production of methanol from CO2
to begin drilling two new wells in 2022 and to emitted from its Niigata plant, while JAPEX will
carry out the pilot test. spearhead research into using the plant’s surplus
Inpex and JOGMEC said they also would aim CO2 to enhance oil/gas recovery (EOR/EGR) at
to verify how much CO2 remained underground the gas field.
as a result of the injection process. If successful, All four companies are following the path set
the pilot will prove that upstream CO2 emissions out by the Niigata and federal governments, with
can be reduced while also boosting production. the former announcing in September 2020 that
“Through the pilot test, the two organisa- it wanted to be carbon neutral by 2050, while the
tions will develop and promote the application later unveiled in October 2020 a similar target
of EOR technology with a view to deploying this but on a national scale.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 24 16•June•2021