Leading the industry
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a very important technology for worldwide climate mitigation
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a very important technology for worldwide climate mitigation
As atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) continue to rise, so does the global concern that the CO2 is trapping solar heat and raising the earth’s temperature. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is regarded one of the most viable options to help mitigate climate change.
How important is carbon capture and storage technology as a climate-mitigation option?
With the projected growth in energy demand, fossil fuels are going to remain a large part of the energy mix, with associated CO2 production, for the next 50 years. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a very important technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is one of several options open to us and should be seen as a part of a portfolio where we will need a range of solutions, including renewables. Within that portfolio, CCS can be a large contributor.
By 2030 the world could be storing between two to four gigatons of CO2 and CCS, representing 20 percent of the European abatement opportunity. Whilst the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) would prefer only renewables, they now see CCS as a potential climate-mitigation option and would like to see it tested.
To put the challenge into context, there are some numbers worth bearing in mind. A 500-megawatt coal-fired plant produces about three million tons of CO2 a year.
This represents about 100,000 barrels a day of liquid CO2. If we were to globally capture around four gigatons of CO2, this would correspond to over 100 million barrels a day of fluids to be injected worldwide. This is almost double today’s world oil production.
What is Schlumberger’s role in all of this?
Schlumberger and the oil industry have over 80 years of expertise identifying, characterising, and developing subsurface opportunities. We are leveraging this vast experience to develop CO2 storage sites.
How is technology helping to make CO2 geological storage more feasible?
Storage is perfectly feasible today. It has been under way in the form of CO2 injection for enhanced oil recovery for over 40 years.
Now, we are working to further improve and enhance storage. We will need large-scale monitoring of CO2 storage projects in order to understand the placement and movement of the fluid. With our clients, Schlumberger has been developing four-dimensional time-lapse seismic surveys and they have been piloted in the North Sea since 1995.
These observations have helped to improve all of our modeling.
In addition, we are working to understand what makes CO2 different from oil and gas. In Schlumberger we have modified our reservoir simulator ECLIPSE* to include CO2 and the way it interacts with other fluids and the rocks. We have also been looking at materials’ properties. When CO2 dissolves in water it produces a weak acid that could attack traditional cement used to construct wells. In response, we have developed CO2-resistant products such as the Schlumberger EverCRETE* cement.
When do you foresee a commercial deployment of the technology?
How urgently do we need commercial deployment today?
Commercial deployment is urgent, and the enablers are emerging. For example, the second round of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme that will come into force after 2012 has the elements needed to make CCS practical. There will be full auctioning of the credits to the power industry which will give a financial value to CO2 abatement. The power companies will have to buy their credits. There is also a cap to emissions and the cap will be reduced year-by-year.
The danger is, if we wait until 2013 before doing anything, we will be allowing the situation that we are trying to mitigate become much worse. We would lose another five years. We have to act now.
This is why the demonstration projects proposed by the EU and G8 are so important. The industry needs to get the technology deployed, gain public acceptance, and provide regulators with the real-world cases upon which to build the future regulatory environment. But today, we are asking companies to commit funding when there is uncertainty and significant financial risk. This is why the industry asks for some reduction of that risk and uncertainty through contributions to the demonstration projects. In this regard, governments can really help to accelerate the process.
Are there particular projects that you can point to now as good examples of CCS?
In North America, there is no single end-to-end project that is a power station to storage. However, in Beulah, North Dakota there is a coal gasification plant where CO2 is captured and then transported through a 320-kilometer pipeline to Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada, where it is used for enhanced oil recovery and some of the CO2 is stored.
There is also a great US Department of Energy-funded project under way in Decatur, Illinois where we are deeply involved, together with the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium, the Illinois State Geological Survey, and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). ADM’s ethanol plant is the source of the CO2, which will be stored in the Mount Simon formation, a salt-water filled sandstone, 7,000ft below the plant’s surface. It’s a wonderful project, absolutely fantastic.
Another good example is the Sleipner project in the North Sea. The natural gas produced has nine percent CO2 that has to be removed before it can be fed into the pipeline system. There is a carbon tax in Norway so StatoilHydro had a choice, either vent the gas and pay the tax or develop a storage solution. They took leadership in choosing the more challenging option and decided to store it in a deep saline formation called the Utsira. This project has been going on since 1995 and injects one million tonnes a year of CO2.
What do you look for from governments and policymakers?
Long term, we need clarity on the regulations, market mechanisms and pricing for CO2, and the mechanism for transfer of liability, post-closure of a CO2 storage site. It is very difficult for any company to take on an uncapped, unlimited liability.
Short term, we need support on the demonstration projects. It is important to reduce the financial risk brought about by the large uncertainties so that these projects will start quickly.
What are the remaining hurdles?
The whole CCS chain needs to be demonstrated at industrial scale. A value needs to be placed on CO2 through a market mechanism – one with some stability. Legislation is needed; the regulatory framework on how CCS will work. How do you give a license for a CO2 storage site? How do you handle the pipelines, transportation issues, moving CO2 from one country to another? What purity should this CO2 be?
And then there is public acceptance. People need to trust the industries involved, that what they are doing is in the best interest of society and that this really is a worthwhile, significant contribution to climate∞change mitigation.
For me, we’ve got to reduce the cost of capture and increase the trust in storage.
How is Schlumberger working to lead the CCS industry?
In Schlumberger, we see CCS as an important climate-mitigation option and our Carbon Services division was formed about three years ago, specifically to address. Schlumberger has invested, we haven’t made money. We have spent money on participation in all the major research projects, the joint industry projects, and have worked to be involved in a large number of demonstration projects. These efforts help us to learn and understand the value of our technology and any possible gaps, so that we can develop the necessary new technology. And now, our efforts are coming to fruition. We are seeing some real projects, which is fantastic.
