Europe – Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a critical necessity for the oil and gas industry to meet the Paris Agreement’s commitments. According to Wood Mackenzie, it will only become financially viable if firms collaborate to develop shared-CCS hubs.
Achieving the Paris Agreement’s 2°C target will need more than reducing carbon. Carbon reduction will be critical if global warming is to be kept to 1.5°C or even 2°C.
Communal solution
According to Wood Mackenzie’s research, unlocking potential economies of scale through basin-wide CCS is the key to effective large-scale carbon removal. Thereby delivering a communal solution to a global problem.
The globe emitted approximately 33 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide in 2019. (CO2). Current CCS projects capture only a small fraction of that, roughly 40 million tonnes of CO2 per year. This is a result of both technical constraints and a lack of business motivation.
The most recognized capture systems are energy intensive, which increases costs, particularly for low-concentration CO2 source streams such as cement or steel.
While newer devices consume less energy, they collect less energy and are less scalable. These technical impediments are exacerbated further by a scarcity of favorable regulatory frameworks and business models.
Economies for scale
According to Wood Mackenzie, CCS clusters can be critical in achieving economies of scale. Synergies are best when industrial point sources and a feasible storage site are located close together.
Through shared transportation infrastructure, CCS clusters and hubs might connect many industrial emission point sources to common storage locations. Shared costs and responsibilities help to mitigate risk for all partners and can make CCS feasible for smaller point sources that would not be economically viable otherwise.
Wood Mackenzie used its asset-level data to map emissions sources and identify prospective sinks with the necessary technical qualities for large-scale CCS.
