The United Kingdom accelerates the capture and storage of underwater CO2

2023-09-18 07:38:00

CO2 storage is the solution used by many manufacturers and governments to achieve carbon neutrality while continuing their activities that emit greenhouse gases. And the British authorities are not escaping the rhetoric since they announced on Friday that they had granted 21 permits to bury CO2 in already exploited underwater oil and gas fields.

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« A total of 14 companies received 21 permits in previously exploited and empty oil and gas reservoirs as well as in saline aquifers », Details the press release from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) on Friday.

Shell, Perenco and ENI are among the companies that have received these permits for sites off the coast of the Norfolk region in the east of England. Other sites are being considered off the coast of Aberdeen in Scotland, or Liverpool on the British west coast. These sites might “ store up to 30 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030, around 10% of the UK’s annual emissions, which stood at 341.5 million tonnes in 2021 », argues the press release. THE ” carbon storage will play a crucial role in the energy transition » assures Stuart Payne, director general of the NSTA, quoted in the press release.

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A controversial technology

Many experts and environmental groups, however, question the weight given to these technologies in Downing Street’s energy transition plan.

« The [technique de] Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is expensive, as shown by the fact that oil companies do not want to do it alone and are asking the government to co-finance these projects », Commented Erik Dalhuijsen, co-founder of the NGO Aberdeen Climate Action, interviewed by AFP.

« Do not emit [de CO2] is much cheaper », insists Erik Dalhuijsen, CCS expert, who adds that it is “not not at all sure that the technology can work ».

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Especially since Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) which trap CO2 at the exit of factories and especially direct air capture (DAC) are very energy-intensive and therefore also emit CO2 if the energy they use is not not decarbonized.

Projects all over the world

Although carbon capture is not unanimous among scientists, projects have been mushrooming for several years. Thus, on August 22, the oil and gas major TotalEnergies announced the acquisition of a 40% stake in an exploration permit for CO2 storage in Norway. A few days before, a mega carbon storage project in the North Sea had been validated by the Council of State of the Netherlands. Also at the end of August, the American Department of Energy also announced that it wanted to invest $1.2 billion in two projects to capture CO2 directly from the atmosphere, namely “ biggest investment » never achieved in this technology according to the latter.

France is also interested in these technologies. At the end of June, the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure explained that he was thinking regarding the creation of “ carbon highways » to evacuate all this CO2. The latter would transit via an axis of “ carboducs », gas pipelines intended to transport carbon dioxide, which will be the “ 21st century infrastructure » to liquefaction ports for the maritime transport of CO2 to storage locations.

(With AFP)