Oil major Shell and Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas have teamed up to unlock, explore, and assess carbon capture and storage (CCS) opportunities in Malaysia and the region surrounding it, in a quest to lower emissions, fulfil net-zero goals, and transform the country into a regional CCS solutions hub.
Petronas announced on Tuesday that it had signed a joint study and collaboration agreement (JSCA) with Sarawak Shell – a subsidiary of Shell – to explore opportunities and project collaborations in CCS to help provide carbon dioxide (CO2) storage solutions in Malaysia and the region.
On Petronas’ behalf, the agreement was signed by its Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Upstream, Adif Zulkifli , while Shell was represented by its Malaysia Chairman and Senior Vice President of Upstream Malaysia, Ivan Tan .
Adif Zulkifli, Petronas Executive VP and CEO of Upstream, remarked: “Petronas has a long-standing partnership with Shell. We are confident that this latest collaboration will inspire more innovation towards managing carbon emissions and advancing our shared ambition of delivering energy solutions in a responsible and sustainable manner.”
Under the terms of this agreement, the two companies will perform an integrated CCS Area Development Plan study to support the decarbonisation ambitions of both parties within selected locations offshore Sarawak.
In addition, the scope of the agreement includes exploring the provision of decarbonisation service to Shell’s local and cross-border facilities, as well as to other potential regional customers. Petronas believes that the outcome of the study will produce options in potential areas for further collaboration.
“This collaboration underscores Petronas’ continuous efforts to explore partnership opportunities in CCS. We will continue this trajectory to unlock opportunities which could potentially help reduce emissions and achieve our net-zero carbon emissions aspirations. This is one of the many efforts to position and establish Malaysia as a leading CCS solutions hub in the region,” added Zulkifli.
To this end, Petronas signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia in November 2021 to explore opportunities in CCS technologies to support the decarbonisation of Malaysia’s upstream industry as well as to provide CO2 storage solutions for the region.
The following month, another agreement was signed with Posco International Corporation and Posco Engineering & Construction to assess opportunities to unlock CCS potential and identify suitable technology within the scope of carbon capture, transportation of CO2 and storage for a potential application.
Petronas is taking deliberate steps to build a resilient and sustainable portfolio to support the transition towards lower-carbon energy sources. In light of this, the firm is pursuing more zero continuous flaring and venting of hydrocarbons to reduce emissions aligned with its aspiration to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 .
Its efforts to build a resilient and sustainable portfolio include developing, testing, and piloting a suite of technologies at its first offshore CCS project set for CO2 injection in 2025.