In focus: A bumper year for carbon capture and storage

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a suite of technological processes which involve capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the gases discarded by industry and transporting and injecting it into geological formations.

According to the Global Status of CCS 2022 report, as of September 2022, 196 commercial CCS facilities are in the project pipeline worldwide. This includes 30 projects in operation, 11 under construction, and 153 in development. 61 new projects were added to the pipeline between September 2021 and September 2022.

As of September 2022, the total capacity of CCS projects in development was 244 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of CO2 – an increase of 44 per cent over the past 12 months, according to the report.

This growth is said to arise from the private sector’s response to the rising expectations of civil society to move to a net-zero emissions future and the evolution of government policy and regulation that is strengthening the business case for investment in CCS.

CCS can be applied to biomass or fossil fuel power plants and CO2-intensive industries such as cement, iron and steel, petrochemicals, oil and gas processing, and others.

This captured CO2 is then transported from where it was produced, via a ship or in a pipeline, to a suitable geological formation where it is injected, with the aim of isolating it from the atmosphere for good.

There are a number of vessels currently under construction that are designed to transport liquefied CO2, including the two 7,500 m3 liquefied CO2 ships that will be deployed on the Northern Lights CCS project in Norway.

The project, being developed by Northern Lights JV DA, a joint venture between Shell, Equinor, and TotalEnergies, is described as the world’s first full-scale carbon capture and storage value chain.

Under the agreement, the two CO2 carriers will, once delivered in 2024, load captured and liquefied CO2 from European emitters, including the Norcem Brevik and Hafslund Oslo Celsio carbon capture facilities, and transport it to the Northern Lights receiving terminal in Øygarden in western Norway.

After being stored at the terminal, the captured CO2 will then be transported by a pipeline for permanent storage in a geological reservoir 2,600 meters under the seabed. The facilities are under construction and operations are scheduled to start in 2024.

This is not the only CCS project to make headway this week. In the UK, RWE and Harbour Energy formed a partnership aimed at investigating options to capture, transport, and store CO2 from RWE’s gas-fired power stations via Viking CCS, Harbour Energy’s CO2 transport and storage network.

The CO2 captured at RWE’s power stations will be transported to the site of the former Theddlethorpe Gas Terminal, from where it will then be transported 140 kilometers to Harbour Energy’s depleted Viking gas fields in the North Sea, 9,000 feet beneath the seabed, for permanent storage.

The Viking CCS project, previously known as V Net Zero, is targeting the first CO2 capture as early as 2027 and a reduction of 10 million tonnes of UK emissions per annum by 2030 and up to 15 million tonnes by 2035.

Italy has also joined in on the action with the country’s first CCS project being moved forward earlier this week.

Oil and gas major, Eni, and energy infrastructure operator, Snam, have formed a joint venture to jointly develop and manage Phase 1 of the Ravenna CCS Project through an equal joint venture.

Phase 1 covers the capture of 25,000 tons of CO2 emitted from Eni’s natural gas treatment plant in Casalborsetti. Once captured, the CO2 will be piped to the Porto Corsini Mare Ovest platform and injected into the homonymous depleted gas field offshore Ravenna.

According to Eni and Snam, the project represents a fundamental step to respond to the decarbonization needs of steel mills, cement plants, ceramics and chemical industries and more generally of the “hard-to-abate” industry. Over 500 new jobs are expected to be available during Phase 1 of the project.

Elsewhere in Europe, Norway and France have signed a letter of intent to cooperate on the development and deployment of CCS.

The aim of the agreement is to promote the development of CCS by creating a framework for cooperation between the two countries to facilitate their sharing of technical knowledge, advice, skills and expertise.

As part of the cooperation, the two governments will consider and prepare a bilateral agreement to enable cross-border transportation and storage of CO2.

In line with the international collaboration theme, Carbon-Zero US, Cox Operating, Crescent Midstream, and Repsol have established a partnership to develop what the companies say is one of the largest offshore hubs for the permanent storage of carbon dioxide in the Gulf of Mexico area.

As one of the largest owners of energy infrastructure in the offshore Gulf of Mexico, Cox plans to repurpose facilities and equipment to lower the project’s carbon footprint during the market-based energy transition.

According to the partnership, an initial FEED study has been completed by Crescent Midstream for a 110-mile carbon dioxide pipeline from Geismar to Grand Isle, using existing Crescent pipeline rights of way.