By Natalie DeCoste
After years of helping people put carbon emissions into the atmosphere, some oil companies are turning their sights to putting the carbon back in the ground.
Major oil companies like Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell are pushing carbon capture technology as the world starts valuing companies who display concern for the environment. Carbon capture, the shorthand of carbon capture, utilization and storage, is a process that captures the carbon dioxide emissions from sources like coal-fired power plants and either reuses it or stores it so it will not enter the atmosphere.
Oil companies have engaged in carbon capture for years, but it has primarily been used to produce more oil. Now, these companies are hoping to turn a profit using the technology by selling the service to heavy-polluting industries like cement and steel, burying their carbon in the ground indefinitely for a fee, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere.
In February, Shell announced that the company was working toward getting to net-zero with a customer-first strategy. The plan has the company aiming to be a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050.
In terms of carbon capture technology, Shell is seeking access to an additional 25 million tonnes a year of carbon capture capacity by 2035. Currently, Shell is part of three key projects for carbon capture: Quest in Canada, which is currently underway; Northern Lights in Norway. which has been sanctioned; and Porthos in The Netherlands, which is in its planning stages. These three projects will total around 4.5 million tonnes of capacity.
“We must give our customers the products and services they want and need – products that have the lowest environmental impact…Whether our customers are motorists, households or businesses, we will use our global scale and trusted brand to grow in markets where demand for cleaner products and services is strongest, delivering more predictable cash flows and generating higher returns,” said Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer, Ben van Beurden.
The Northern Lights project in Norway is set to be the first time companies outside the oil industry will be able to pay to have their carbon gathered and stored.
For its part, Exxon has launched a new service called the ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. The company is using its project expertise, operating experience, and facilities footprint. The company hopes the new business will help accelerate broad-scale deployment of value accretive carbon capture investments. The project could also advance investments in hydrogen as the technology to lower production cost matures.
There are also concerns over carbon leakage from the storage facilities. The protest against the storage of carbon in Europe has led to the use of aquifers and depleted gas fields in the North Sea.
