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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
Major CCS project to advance decarbonisation efforts across Texas Gulf Coast
25/5/2022
BP and Linde have unveiled plans to advance a major carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Texas, US, that will enable low carbon hydrogen production at Linde’s existing facilities. The development will also support the storage of CO2 captured from other industrial facilities – paving the way for large-scale decarbonisation of the Texas Gulf Coast industrial corridor.
The low carbon hydrogen will be sold to customers along Linde’s hydrogen pipeline network under long-term contracts to enable production of low carbon chemicals and fuels.
As part of the project, BP will appraise, develop and permit the geological storage sites for permanent sequestration of the CO2.
According to Dave Lawler, Chairman and President of BP America, the new low carbon energy project will ‘help decarbonise hard-to-abate industries for the greatest potential impact on emissions while protecting jobs’.
Meanwhile, Dan Yankowski, President, Linde Gases North America, notes that capturing the CO2 from Linde’s hydrogen production plants in the Houston area will be a significant step towards the company achieving its goals of lowering absolute carbon emissions 35% by 2035 and reaching climate neutrality by 2050.
The overall development, expected to be operational as early as 2026, will also enable the capture and storage of CO2 from other large industrial facilities in the region and could ultimately store up to 15mn t/y across multiple onshore geologic storage sites – the equivalent of taking approximately 3mn cars off the road each year, report the companies.
Chevron launches CCS project in San Joaquin Valley, US
In related news, Chevron has announced it is launching a CCS project aimed at reducing the carbon intensity (the amount of CO2 emitted per unit of energy produced) of its operations in San Joaquin Valley, California, US.
The company plans to install CO2 post-combustion capture equipment at its Kern River Eastridge cogeneration plant in Kern County, California, and then safely store the CO2 thousands of feet underground.
An August 2020 report by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory noted that while there are various options for geologic storage sites in California, the most promising first candidates are located in San Joaquin County and in Kern County, due to their geologic and subsurface characteristics, as well as existing oil and natural gas production.
‘We believe the future of energy is lower carbon. Reducing the carbon intensity of the energy people rely on day-in and day-out is well-aligned with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement,’ comments Chris Powers, Vice President of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) for Chevron New Energies.
BP/Equinor awarded North Sea carbon storage licences
Meanwhile, the UK government’s drive to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 has taken a step forward with the award of two carbon storage licences in the Southern North Sea to BP and Equinor.
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has awarded the licences with an appraisal term of eight years. The agreed work programmes require the licensees to show progress achieving milestones, such as performing seismic surveys of the four proposed storage sites and drilling wells to acquire data before applying for a storage permit.
The four separate storage sites are located around 70 km (43 miles) off the coast of Humberside. Combined with the existing licence granted for the Endurance carbon store, they could eventually contribute to the storage of up to 23mn t/y of CO2 around 1,400 metres beneath the seabed, reports the NSTA. The government’s target for CCUS is to reach 20–30mn t/y by 2030, and over 50mn t/y by 2035.
NSTA is now stewarding six carbon storage licences on the UKCS, having awarded five licences since 2018 and agreed a transfer of a sixth.
‘Current project estimates indicate that earliest injection from a carbon storage project could come as soon as 2025 given the progress already seen in the HyNet, Northern Endurance Partnership’s East Coast Cluster and V Net Zero Humber Cluster projects,’ reports the NSTA.
