This was written at the beginning of 2023. I write all the copy for Oil and Energy Trends, a monthly journal (about 75000 words/yr). It’s behind a paywall – here’s a link to one Issue Information – 2022 – Oil and Energy Trends – Wiley Online Library It draws on the previous post about the COP27 outcome.
Survey: Carbon Capture and Storage capacity expansion to accelerate in 2023
With no targets for limiting oil and gas production agreed at COP27 (and none likely at the next COP in the UAE), carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is likely to play a bigger role in achieving net zero than otherwise, while the responsibility to take action remains squarely with consumers. Helped by growing momentum to decarbonise among some policy makers and energy providers, several major CCUS projects are expected to progress this year, setting in motion what could become a major industry.
Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) involves the capture of CO2 from sources such as oil and gas fields, power plants and industrial facilities, or even directly from the atmosphere through Direct Air Capture (DAC) – in an effort to reduce CO2 emissions and their associated harmful warming impact. The captured CO2 is normally compressed and transported to be used or stored underground in geological formations, including old salt caverns and depleted oil and gas fields – making areas like the North Sea and US Gulf ideally suited. New techniques are being developed to convert the CO2 directly into solid forms of carbon, which could make storage easier. If CO2 is captured from biomass power plants that use sustainable feedstock, the energy produced is carbon negative.
Today, CCUS facilities around the world have the capacity to capture more than 40mn tCO2 each year, most of which is used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The bulk of this is located in the US, where some early facilities have been operating since the 1970s, when natural gas processing plants in Texas began supplying CO2 to local oil producers to use for EOR. Finding a use for the CO2 clearly improves the economics of projects. Newer markets for CO2 include as a raw material for syn or e-fuels and other circular carbon economies, as well as supplying greenhouses to enhance plant growth rates. Traditional industrial and food processing markets for CO2 are also growing.
To date, CCUS progress has generally been slow, although recent years have seen a sharp increase in projects reaching the drawing board. Europe has made limited progress, with the most advanced large scale non-EOR CCUS facility located outside the EU in Norway (Northern Lights).1 This slow pace is partly because the EU has tended to focus on electrification and the removal of fossil fuel demand, which can compete with CCUS in some areas and is seen as preferable in environmental terms by many – although policymakers are increasingly keen to see projects implemented.
Government plans in the UK to capture CO2 from gas power plants have been repeatedly delayed since an original proposed start date of 2013, despite great sites and numerous proposed projects. In Asia, most operating plants are confined to oil and gas producing areas, with the largest located at the Chevron-operated Gorgon LNG facility in Western Australia, although even this plant has been operating well below planned levels.2
A turning point in 2023?
Recently the pace of new CCUS project announcements and approvals have picked up. Many experts are now suggesting that this could be the year that CCUS finally begins expanding in earnest, with both private investors and governments apparently now keen to provide financing and implement the required regulations and incentives. For many countries it is a key part of net zero plans, all the more so in the absence of any fossil fuel output limits from the COP process.
The Global CCS Institute3 says there are currently 196 proposed carbon capture projects in the pipeline worldwide, a 44% increase from a year ago. The institute says that figure may increase again once developers account for new incentives and regulations, such as measures included in the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which it believes could increase the deployment of carbon capture by over 110mn mt/yr by 2030 compared to existing policy.
In a recent report4, Wood Mackenzie said the global CCUS project pipeline had increased by over 50% in 2022 and announcements made across all sectors showed “incredible momentum”. The report also noted that more still would be needed if companies and countries were to meet their net zero targets.
The consultancy predicts that 166mn t/yr of potential CO2 storage capacity will enter development in 2023, through a combination of standalone projects and larger hubs. But it notes that this is much bigger than the volume of carbon capture capacity that has been approved, which Wood Mackenzie estimates at 98mn t/yr. This represents a significant shortfall in the volumes captured when compared to the total storage available, although more emitters are expected to implement capture plans once the storage hubs are established.
S&P Platts says it will not be until 2024 that the CCS/CCUS sector really takes off as lower costs and tax credits encourage investors to proceed. According to the S&P Global carbon sequestration projects and policies overview, 22 major carbon capture projects were added across the globe in 2022 and 16 are expected for 2023. That number shoots up to 62 in 2024, with most activity in North America and Europe. And by 2027, further additions could grow the global capture capacity to 200mn t/yr – five times today’s capacity (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. CCS storage capacity forecast (mn mt/yr)
Source: S&P Platts, Wood Mackenzie, BNEF, and others.
Money is being raised to fund these CCUS projects. Research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) said about $3.5 billion was invested in the first nine months of 2022, compared to a total of $7 billion invested in the four years from 2018 to 2021. BNEF forecasts that global capture capacity will hit 279mn t/yr by 2030, a sevenfold increase on today’s levels. But that would still account for just 0.6% of today’s emissions, BNEF says, which is well below the 1.6 billion t/yr the International Energy Agency says needs to be captured by 2030 if the world has a chance of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
S&P Platts says that within the next five years, costs for carbon capture additions should fall by between 15% and 30% as the second generation of projects in the pipeline benefit from improved efficiencies in project execution and other lessons learned from the first generation of CCS projects. The collaborative nature of many of the projects means any efficiency gains are quickly spread along an industry’s value chain and between sectors. This is helped by the establishment of various information and technology sharing pathways, such as partnerships, carbon capture hub formations, and engineering, procurement and construction firms working across industries.
However, there is considerable doubt that CCUS and associated technologies will be sufficient to achieve net zero against a background of rising oil and gas output – generally CCS only captures 90-95% of emissions and a large portion of CO2 and methane is emitted at a micro level and so is difficult to capture. Many observers believe that, failing an agreement to cap hydrocarbon output via the COP process – which now seems unlikely – governments need to tax carbon emissions in order to make the choice to emit hydrocarbons expensive, which will deter use as well as encouraging CCUS. This needs to be accompanied by direct support for CCS/CCUS, at least initially.
Growing government support
To date, government policy has played an important part in getting CCUS projects off the ground. The North American CCUS sector has now been given a significant boost by policy support related to the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act. The enhanced 45Q tax credits under the IRA increased carbon capture subsides from $50/mt CO2 captured and permanently stored to $85/mt, and from $35/mt of CO2 to $60/mt for companies that utilize CO2 for other purposes, like enhanced oil recovery. These incentives should start adding more projects to the pipeline this year, according to Energy Intelligence Group.
Governments are also becoming more active in Asia, which has seen little CCUS activity so far. Japan is moving ahead with the establishment of domestic projects. The country aims to store 6-12mn mt/year of CO2 by 2030 by selectively supporting three to five projects, according to its long-term CCS roadmap plan, which was approved in late January 2023. Japan then plans to expand the CO2 storage volume to 120-240mn mt/year by 2050 as the importance of CCS in achieving carbon neutrality grows. The country has already launched its first large-scale CCS pilot project in Tomakomai city in Hokkaido, northern Japan.5
In Southeast Asia, Thailand is establishing funding arrangements for CCS, while Indonesia and Malaysia plan to introduce CCUS regulations and incentives, focusing first on decarbonising natural gas production. India is also expected to make progress with its first CCUS facilities. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are moving forward quickly (see below), partly driven by the need to store CO2 from blue hydrogen plants, as well as emissions from their own extensive oil and gas operations.
In some cases, developers are waiting for government help with early CCS plants before moving forward, contributing to delays in final approvals. The precedent set by Norway , which is funding 80% of the multi-billion-dollar Northern Lights project, will be hard for most to match. The project, led by Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell, will be the first commercially-run plant to operate in Europe when it comes online in 2024, with customers including cement plants and waste incinerators. The Porthos project in Rotterdam, involving Exxon, Shell, and others, is getting €2 billion ($2 billion) in incentive support from the Dutch government.
In Canada, the high-emissions oil sands sector in Alberta already has some CCS but is seeking to build much more and looking for government subsidies to do so. Overall, capturing and storing the gas from oil sands operations is expected to cost about C$16.5 billion ($12.22 billion) by 2030 and the developers will not proceed without government money. Last year the Canadian government unveiled a CCS investment tax credit, but the oil industry is asking federal and provincial governments for further financial support, according to Reuters.6
In Italy, CCS is moving forward as part of Italian oil company ENI’s scope 1&2 targets, as well as to act as a service for industrial emissions. ENI and infrastructure operator Snam are to develop the first phase of the Ravenna Carbon CCS project on the Adriatic coast, initially targeting 25,000 mt of emissions from the Casalborsetti gas treatment plant, the companies said in mid-December. The project is likely to be Italy’s first, with captured CO2 pumped into a depleted gas field off the Adriatic coast. Eni has said its depleted Adriatic gas fields could store up to 500mn mt of CO2.
The pair are forming a 50:50 joint venture to develop and manage the project which will be expanded to decarbonize steel, cement, ceramics, chemicals, and other industries in the Po valley, and later further afield, to include emitters such as Venice’s 360,000 mt/year Porto Marghera refinery.
COP27 boosts CCS prospects
Proposals to extend the commitment at COP26 to ‘phase-down’ coal to other fossil fuels failed to find a consensus at COP27. Without any constraints on oil and gas output, more is likely to be produced and used, so there will need to be more carbon reduction, capture, or reabsorption of emissions if net zero targets are still to be met. Many feel CCS is not up to the job given relatively low levels of successful capture and storage in existing plants. The result also removes any responsibility from producers, placing all the emphasis on consumers to reach decarbonisation targets.
A failure to rapidly shift away from fossil fuels will increase reliance on carbon capture technologies (CCUS) and negative emissions (DAC and sinks/credits) to compensate for any carbon budget overshoot, according to reports by the EU’s Energy Transition organisation (ETC).7
In a another report8, Wood Mackenzie said COP27 signalled that the world’s efforts on climate change were shifting from mitigation to adaptation, and more CCS or alternative carbon removal technology would be needed to achieve net zero by 2050.
Several countries combined to ensure there were no limits on oil and gas output at COP27. Big Middle Eastern oil producers held particular sway in the Arab host country of Egypt, which has its own sizeable oil and gas sector and development goals. They were joined by others facing questions over supply security in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine, some of whom are seeking more hydrocarbon development outside Russia in the near term (alongside accelerated renewables plans). Many African nations felt limits would prevent them from developing domestic oil and gas in order to grow their economies. The corporate Oil Lobby were also well represented at COP27, seeking to influence direction and be part of the solution rather than the problem.
Energy Intelligence Group described the outcome generally as “a mixed win for oil and gas producers.” The final agreement also created more room for low carbon fuels made from recycled CO2 and hydrogen, alongside renewables, which Energy intelligence (PIW) said was “an obvious win for the industry.”
CCS provides oil and gas companies with a means of reducing carbon emissions while continuing to increase output, which means the COP result is likely to encourage some producers to invest in producing more hydrocarbons, which will require more CCUS or sinks and offsets of other sorts, if net zero targets are to be met. The higher investment may keep oil prices lower, making it more competitive versus EVs and other lower carbon alternatives.
IEA says output unlikely to keep rising, despite COP27 outcome
The IEA says aggregate hydrocarbon output is unlikely to keep on rising given the current policy frameworks that have been put in place in places like China, the EU, and the US.8 It says the growing policy action to curb the use of fossil fuels has accelerated the expected peak and decline of oil, gas, and coal in the global energy mix, which would suggest the lack of a production cap agreement at COP27 does not matter – production will not rise anyway (although a UN agreement would of course help).
The agency, speaking in late October, predicted higher growth rates for renewables and electric vehicles as policies tighten. These include ambitious policies such as bans on new ICE cars (2030 in UK and 2035 in Europe) or widely set dates for phasing out coal in power systems. Others note that many businesses are already taking responsibility for reducing their own carbon emissions, regardless of government rules. But OPEC and others disagree, forecasting rising oil and gas consumption until the 2040s, and the group is working to ensure the UN COP process will not challenge this.
The COP outcome raises questions over the direction of future decarbonization efforts at UN level, with the world seemingly split over the merits of two approaches – with Europe and China favouring hydrocarbon reduction and massive renewable build out to cap emissions, while some developing nations, hydrocarbon producing countries and US majors push for a CCUS-focused circular carbon economy and no output limits, alongside renewables.
Boost for US majors, Gulf NOCs
A lack of targets to curb oil and gas output also fits with the approach of US majors, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron (and some US independents), which have no limits on their own output ambitions and – unlike European majors – have focused very much on CCUS as their contribution towards decarbonization. The CCS is aimed at both their own scope 1&2 emissions, while also providing a service for consumers to decarbonize. Similarly, Saudi Aramco and UAE’s ADNOC are pouring money into their own scope 1&2 net zero targets but have no objectives for scope three emissions (at the point of consumption), which dominate their totals.
While these producers continue to lobby against any action to curb oil output, they do appear to recognise the reality of global warming (given their own net zero scope 1&2 targets) and the negative public image that is therefore sometimes associated with oil and gas companies. As a result, they are keen to move forward with CCS as a solution that they can also offer as a profitable service to their large energy consuming customers. It is also essential to reach their own ambitious internal scope 1&2 net zero goals as they increase or maintain output and can help with EOR.
In Saudi Arabia, both state-owned Saudi Aramco and the Public Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, are now targeting net zero (Scope 1&2 operational emissions) by 2050, which is 10 years ahead of the 2060 national target, whilst pursuing a 1mn b/d oil production capacity expansion by 2027, alongside increased gas output. To cope, Saudi CCS targets have been increased to 44mn t/yr by 2035, including a 9mn t/yr facility near Jubail by 2027. This has been accompanied by the announcement of new renewables projects and a target of 50% renewables generation by 2030 – which will also help reduce the scope 1&2 carbon emitted in extracting, transporting, and storing oil.
The UAE’s ADNOC has already developed the Gulf region’s first large-scale commercial CCUS project. The 800,000 t/yr Al -Reyadah facility processes CO2 captured from Emirates Steel Industries, which is then injected into onshore oilfields to enhance oil recovery.10 The company is pressing forward with further developments by allocating $15 billion to low-carbon solutions, new energies, and decarbonisation technologies. This followed guidance from ADNOC’s board of directors in November 2022 to accelerate delivery of its low-carbon growth strategy, which envisages a fivefold increase in CCS storage capacity by 2030 alongside other measures. In 2023, ADNOC says it plans to announce several new projects and initiatives, including a “first-of-its-kind” CCS project, and innovative carbon removal technologies, as well as a strengthening of international partnerships.
Both ADNOC and Saudi Aramco are among the lowest carbon intensity oil producers, due to the ease with which the oil is extracted and high operating efficiency, as well as their growing scope 1&2 decarbonisation efforts.
Blue hydrogen
They also both see CCUS as a way of monetizing their substantial gas reserves beyond 2060 through the production of blue hydrogen, which involves the splitting of natural gas into hydrogen and CO2. The CO2 is captured and stored – making the hydrogen close to net zero. The first export of a cargo of blue ammonia (derived from blue hydrogen and more stable for transport) from Saudi Arabia to Japan took place in 2021, with many more planned to follow in future decades.
Blue hydrogen projects could also be a big user of CCS in the UK, where there are two major projects planned, involving BP and ENI, among others. ENI, as part of the UK’s Hynet project, will use a depleted gas-field in the Irish Sea to store the CO2 from the blue hydrogen production. By sharing their storage facilities with CO2 from industrial customers and other users the scale can be increased, and the cost of the CCS kept down. High carbon prices in the UK (currently at around £90/tCO2)and Europe are already providing a significant incentive for large industries to reduce their emissions.
Across in Norway, Equinor is working on blue (and green) hydrogen projects linking Norway and Germany to help decarbonize steel, cement, and heavy-duty transport.11 These have been accelerated following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the associated reduction in Russian gas flow and challenge to Germany’s energy security. However, with gas prices high in Europe, and forecast to remain elevated, the blue hydrogen projects are losing their competitive advantage to green projects, which could cast doubt over their future in the region, and the need for associated CCS facilities.
US majors lead western CCS pack
While European majors are focused elsewhere,Exxon Mobil is trying to position itself as an industry leader in carbon capture. The supermajor plans to make CCUS a key part of its proposed $3 billion spend on lower-emission energy solutions through 2025. Its plans include one of the world’s most ambitious carbon-capture projects, announced last year bringing together dozens of the Houston area’s biggest emitters to capture about 100mn t/yr of CO2. Exxon Mobil is also a leading member of the Houston CCS Alliance, a newly formed local advocacy group.
In 2022, Exxon Mobil also announced plans to build one of the world’s largest blue hydrogen facilities, using natural gas and carbon capture to produce up to 1bn ft3/d of clean hydrogen, as an initial phase of the Houston hub project. Further north, the company approved a $400 million expansion of existing carbon capture facilities at its LaBarge natural gas project in Wyoming, targeting an additional 1.2mn t/yr of CO2 capture, with start-up planned in 2025.
Meanwhile, some of its proposed hub partners, including Chevron, Linde, Air Liquide, and others, are also evaluating plans for low-carbon opportunities on the US Gulf Coast. Leading CCS proponent, Occidental Petroleum also has pre-FID point-source CCUS plans in development on the US Gulf Coast.
But Occidental Petroleum’s main focus is Direct Air Capture (DAC). The company says it has started construction at the first of what it now says could be over 130 DAC plants by 2035. Oxy should be in line to get considerable help from the US Inflation Reduction Act, which may see the roll out accelerated – the projects are financed mainly with cash and carbon-offset credits. The company plans to give the go-ahead to its second plant, which will be a slightly improved version of the first, using a “digital twin” system to help optimize designs and reduce costs.
Southeast Asian growth
Some of these leading CCS developers are also signing up to develop CCS projects outside the US. For example, Exxon Mobil and Indonesian national oil company Pertamina recently signed a $2.5 billion agreement to further assess plans for an offshore CCS project in the country with the potential to store as much as 3bn mt of CO2.
The Heads of Agreement, which was signed at the G20 Summit in Indonesia in late 2022, builds on the joint study and memorandum of understanding that was signed a year ago at COP26 to assess CCS technologies, low-carbon hydrogen, and geologic data. Indonesia has large coal and gas reserves which it still hopes to use in combination with CCS to drive growth across the massive developing country.
Petronas is also active in the region, although its CCS efforts are mostly focused on removing CO2 from natural gas. In 2022 it sanctioned the Kasawari CCS project, which is located in Block SK316 off the coast of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The Kasawari field is estimated to hold about 5 trillion ft3 of gas with 30%-40% of that CO2. The project is expected to begin operations in 2025, along with Phase 2 of the Kasawari gas field. It will have the capacity to capture 3.3-3.7mn mtCO2/yr from Kasawari in the nearby M1 field, with an anticipated storage lifespan of 20 years. Kasawari gas will supply Malaysia LNG’s Train 9 liquefaction facility at Bintulu.
Petronas is aiming to keep emissions from its operations (Scope 1 and 2) below 49.5mn tCO2e by 2024 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, while increasing output to 2mn boe/d by 2030, up from around 1.8mn boe/d now.
Chinese projects begin to gain pace
Most existing CCUS projects in China are linked to coal-fired power plants, and progress remains slow elsewhere. Leading proponents include power companies such as China Huaneng, which built the 120,000 t/yr CO2 capture unit at the Shanghai Shidongkou No.2 Power Plant back in 2009 (among the country’s first).
Other plants are mostly associated with coal-to-chemical and EOR – which has the biggest commercial CCUS potential. These include Sinopec’s demonstration Project at the Shengli Oilfield (China’s second largest located in Shandong province), which can capture up to 40,000 t/yr.
Policy support for CCUS in China remains limited. Over recent years there have been many policies that mention or encourage CCUS. But so far, there is no specific policy or financial framework to support commercial development of the technology. However, there could be progress soon. In 2021, China’s national energy regulator, the National Reform and Development Commission (NDRC) said it had plans to set up policies to support low-carbon technology like CCS, hydrogen, and utility-scale energy storage. In addition, China has launched its national emission trading market and an emission fund, which should improve the commercial basis for CCS projects.
The pressure from China’s central government on larger consumers to act is also increasing, which may encourage CCS plans to move forward in any case. Beijing has placed much higher pressure on the heavy industries to decarbonize in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period. This has prompted new investment interest in several new CCS projects for industrial capture in areas such as iron & steel and the cement industry.
There is also expected to be significant demand for CCS from hydrogen producers that currently extract hydrogen from coal. This grey hydrogen can be decarbonised if the emissions are captured and stored. Coal producing provinces such as Inner Mongolia are leading the regulatory effort. Recently, its hydrogen development policy for the 14th FYP period was revised to require CCUS for any new coal to hydrogen projects in future.
Elsewhere, China Resources and the Caofedian District of Tangshan City recently signed an agreement to construct a clean energy industry complex, where a methanol-cracking hydrogen production plant and a CCUS project will be installed.
CCS-focused M&A likely to rise
Wood Mackenzie says that with projects moving forward, alongside tightening policy and regulation, and ever-increasing company and country net zero targets, the scene is set for more M&A deals with CCUS as their focus.12
Acquisitions make sense because, building a position organically takes years and considerable investment, along with associated risks. Recent high oil and gas prices have proved the higher cash flow required to make the purchases. Location is key, with areas like the US Gulf coast having an advantage not only in terms of potential sites, but also in its proximity to major industrial customers. Well positioned companies with existing assets in areas like this are likely to be targets for the biggest proponents, such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum, which are also focusing on these areas, initially at least. Deals so far include Chevron-Talos-Carbonvert in the US Gulf (the US’ first offshore project – more detail below) and E.ON-Horisont Energi in Europe.
EIG says other potential targets could include Denbury, an oil and gas company that has rapidly grown the carbon management side of its business in recent years and controls a network of 900 miles of dedicated CO2 pipelines along the Texas and Louisiana coasts – where much of the US’ high-emitting industries are located. Denbury projects that its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions will reach net negative by the end of the decade, helped by falling CCS costs and increasing policy support, as well as technological advances that also help drive down costs.
Another company that has recently entered the carbon capture sector is CF Industries, a US-based producer of ammonia used for fertilizers. In October, CF Industries announced a partnership with ExxonMobil in which that company will offtake, transport and store the nearly 2mn mt/year of CO2 that CF Industries will capture and transport from its largest 4mn t/yr ammonia plant in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.
The deal was arranged under last year’s tax credits. Now that those credits have been increased (see above), CF Industries is likely to extend the CCS to its seven other plants across North America. That work is already being done at its plant in Yazoo City, Mississippi, which produces 570,000 mt/year of ammonia mostly for the US agricultural industry. Ammonia is one of the big four industrial emitters, which also include cement, petrochemicals, and steel.
First US offshore hub moves forward
In May 2022, Chevron said it would take a 50% stake from joint developers Talos Energy and Carbonvert in the US’s first major carbon capture and storage hub in the shallow waters of the US Gulf off the coast of Texas. Known as the Bayou Bend CCS project, it will capture and store 225-275mn mt CO2 from industrial sources along the US Gulf Coast over a 25-30-year period, including the industrial hubs in Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas. Talos and Carbonvert will retain 25% stakes and Talos will remain project operator. The first phase of the project would sequester 4-5mn mt/yr of CO2, rising to 8-10mn mt/yr of CO2 in the longer term. Exxon Mobil also has placed bids on nearly 100 leases in Texas’ shallow waters for potential CCS projects.
The US government is increasingly paying attention to the potential of offshore carbon storage. The Biden administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in 2021 instructs the Interior Department to develop a regulatory framework for offshore carbon sequestration on the outer continental shelf, or the ocean floor that falls under federal jurisdiction.
The US government estimates that the US Gulf is capable of storing several gigatons of US emissions. Storing offshore avoids land use and any public controversy that may arise onshore. But deep-sea carbon storage has special challenges, including the complexity of monitoring for leaks, which is more difficult than onshore. Methodologies for monitoring offshore CCS well pressure or leakage are still under development.
There are also questions over the long term status of carbon storage. While project operators normally have responsibility for a well during the life of the project — which typically lasts for 15 to 30 years — there remains an open question as to who holds liability over a CCS well after an offshore lease expires, because the storage is meant to be indefinite. Unless clarified, this uncertainty and similar issues could put companies off involvement in the offshore carbon business.
With oil and gas consumption continuing to rise after a slight pandemic-related decline in 2020/21, the need for CCUS will also rise if net zero targets are to be met. Eventually, the UN and others believe CCUS will be responsible for a significant tranche of decarbonization, and warn that the cost of transitioning to a more sustainable energy system will be much higher if it is not widely adopted.
Notes and references
1. https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/projects/northern-lights-carbon-capture-and-storage-ccs-project/
2. https://www.upstreamonline.com/energy-transition/chevrons-flagship-gorgon-ccs-project-still-failing-to-live-up-to-expectations/2-1-1166185
3. https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/
4. https://www.woodmac.com/news/opinion/ccus-2023-outlook/?utm_source=inside-track&utm_medium=email&utm_content=ccus-milestone-year-12jan23-iss201&utm_campaign=inside-track-january-2023:
5. https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2019/1125_004.html
6. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/canada-oil-sands-producers-begin-evaluating-proposed-carbon-storage-site-2023-01-04/
7. ETC’s CCUS work: https://www.energy-transitions.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ETC-CCUS-Report-2022.pdf and https://www.energy-transitions.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ETC-CDR-Report-Mind-the-Gap.pdf
8. https://www.woodmac.com/news/the-edge/cop-27–five-key-takeaways/?utm_source=inside-track&utm_medium=email&utm_content=cop-five-takeaways-29nov22-iss196&utm_campaign=inside-track-november-2022
10. https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2022