Oil & gas majors begin selling CCUS knowhow to boost production

By Trend

The existing carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) capacity is concentrated at natural gas processing plants due to the use of captured CO2 in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) activities within the upstream segment of oil and gas, Trend reports with reference to GlobalData.

The company forecasts that by 2030, all the largest CCUS sectors shown are expected to grow, but none faster than the power sector, which will become the largest user of CCUS capacity. Several oil and gas majors are already collaborating on CCUS projects in the power sector, demonstrating that these companies are beginning to diversify their revenue streams.

“Many oil and gas companies developed CCUS knowhow by way of EOR projects simply to boost production, long before they were considering cutting emissions. Today, that knowledge has new value, as oil and gas companies have begun selling their CCUS knowledge in the form of technical advisory services or in developing their own emission reduction projects. Additionally, there is evidence that CCUS projects could generate large amounts of revenue through the growing carbon offset market,” says Miles Weinstein, Energy Transition Analyst at GlobalData.

Some of the most active companies GlobalData has identified in the CCUS sector are ExxonMobil, INEOS, TotalEnergies, Occidental Petroleum, Equinor, Shell, and Chevron.

“While CCUS capacity is growing, existing capacity accounts for just 0.15% of total energy-related carbon emissions. According to new planned and announced capacity, this would increase to just 0.8% by 2030. CCUS remains an expensive technology to build or retrofit onto existing facilities, and widespread commercialization will require continued cost reductions. Fortunately, recent R&D efforts have been successful at improving capture technologies at low cost,” Weinstein added.