Page 7 - AfrOil Week 46

AfrOil AfrOil

And with Canada increasingly being touted as its ambitions in late September for a hydrogen
a potential leader in the development of blue industry that would feed both domestic and for-
hydrogen – produced through methane steam eign demand, Canberra also highlighted CCS’
reforming alongside a CCS component to mini- potential in decarbonising the industry.
mise emissions – further opportunities for CCS The process would allow the country’s exten-
developments are expected to arise. However, sive natural gas industry to begin transitioning
as with all emerging technologies, developers into the production of carbon neutral, or “clean”,
will need to balance costs with local and federal blue hydrogen. This could be sold overseas or
emission reduction goals. blended in domestic gas pipeline networks, with
South of the border, meanwhile, CCS has some industry observers suggesting that current
been less visible in the US. However, CCS initia- renewable gas blends of up to 10% could rise to
tives are underway there too – having struggled 100% hydrogen by 2050.
to gain traction initially because they had been In announcing the government’s technology
designed with EOR in mind, but came as the roadmap, Australian Energy Minister Angus
shale revolution lowered demand for such tech- Taylor said AUD18bn ($13.18bn) of funding had
niques. Now, though, the concept of capturing been earmarked for a portfolio of low-emissions
CO2 purely for the sake of lowering emissions technologies that included “clean” hydrogen.
is starting to take off, bolstered by a federal tax Taylor has now urged the local industry to
credit introduced in 2018. step up its efforts to integrate CCS into their blue
For example, at least two proposed LNG hydrogen projects in order to deliver on Canber-
projects on the US Gulf Coast include a CCS ra’s export-orientated goals.
component as they try to position themselves Taylor was reportedly preparing to deliver
as being the most environmentally friendly a speech to the Australian Hydrogen Confer-
projects of their kind. Neither NextDecade’s ence this week that industry and government
Rio Grande LNG nor G2 Net-Zero LNG’s pro- needed to work hand in hand in order to attract
posed facility have yet reached the FID stage, AUD70bn ($51.26bn) worth of investment over
however. Indeed, NextDecade has suggested the next decade. “Clean hydrogen has enormous
Rio Grande could reach FID in 2021 if it secures potential to be an important part of the shift to
enough offtake agreements. G2 Net-Zero LNG, lower emissions,” local daily the Sydney Morn-
meanwhile, only proposed its LNG terminal – a ing Herald quoted on November 15 Taylor’s
cleaner redesign of a previous plan – earlier this planned speech as stating.
year and still has some way to go until the facility His reported comments come just weeks
can be built. after Santos revealed that the country was one
Overall there are around 30 CCS projects step closer to its first commercial CCS project.
under development in the US, according to the The company said on October 22 that it intended
Houston Chronicle. Almost a dozen of these are to take a FID on its Moomba CCS project by the
being planned along the Gulf Coast, with Louisi- end of the year.
ana increasingly keen to position itself as a CO2 The company said it had successfully
storage hub. Similar geography exists in Texas, pumped around 100 tonnes of CO2 into the
which would also have extensive aquifers and depleted Strzelecki gas field in the Cooper Basin
depleted oilfields that could potentially be used as part of the project’s final field trial. Once on
for storing CO2. But Texas – the largest CO2 stream, the 1.7mn tpy project promises to be one
emitter in the US – has not yet shown the same of the world’s cheapest CCS sites.
state-level enthusiasm as Louisiana to proceed Santos managing director and CEO Kevin
with wide-scale CCS development. Gallagher said the FID hinged on the Clean
Energy Regulator issuing an approved method-
Australia ology for CCS, as carbon credits were essential
When the Australian government unveiled to making the project “stack up economically.”

Week 46 18•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7