Norwegian Lime Petroleum, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Rex International, has inked a deal with Nautilus Carbon Services to take part in a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Norway.
Rex reported on Thursday that its subsidiary Lime Petroleum (LPA) had entered into an agreement with Nautilus Carbon Services to participate in the first phase of a larger CCS project, involving several other joint-industry project partners. The project aims to secure a storage site in the Norwegian Continental Shelf to safely inject and store CO2 permanently.
Rex claims this project is in line with the global goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The company explains that Phase I of the CCS project will include research and development work to outline and describe the methodology and possible locations for a CO2 storage site.
A decision will be made to initiate Phase II of this CCS project, upon completion of Phrase I. According to Rex, the goal of the second phase will be to secure the award of an exploitation licence on the Norwegian Continental Shelf with an application to the authorities.
Lars Hübert , Chief Executive Officer of LPA, commented: “With LPA’s acquisition of 33.84 per cent interest in the producing Brage field, it is timely and opportune that LPA participates in such a project that will progress LPA’s ESG objectives and help the company gain a foothold in the emerging CCS value chain.”
To remind, on 15 June 2021, Lime Petroleum entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Repsol Norge to acquire its interests in the Wintershall Dea-operated Brage field.
Rex says that the Net-Zero 2050 roadmap describes how a rapid increase in CO2 capture requires the development of geological storage locations. Therefore, the main assumption would be that 95 per cent of the captured volume needs to be stored in such geological formations if we are to reach the climate change goals outlined within the Paris Agreement by 2050.
Rex believes that technological progress is likely to reduce the cost of capturing CO2 in the near future from power generation including blue H2 from natural gas, industrial processes, energy from waste, and possibly direct air capture (DAC). The listed industries generate CO2 volumes exceeding – by orders of magnitude – the Scope 1 emissions from the oil and gas industry.
The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) claims there are currently 51 existing and operational carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) facilities in Europe. These have set a target of 50 megatons per year in 2030. Thus, ultra-high CO2 injection and storage rates are considered to be the key to meeting the net-zero 2050 goals.
Based on IEA’s net-zero goals from 2021, the global capture needs to be around 2 gigatons per annum in 2030, so that it would reach nearly 6 gigatons per year in 2040, while the total captured CO2 should be 7.6 gigatons on an annual basis in 2050.
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"CCUS technologies are key if we want to deliver on the #Europeangreendeal . This assessment is confirmed by the IPCC and by @IEA ", said Commissioner @TimmermansEU . #CCUSForum #CCS #greendeal pic.twitter.com/yT9osfwj31