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Released January 19, 2022 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The provincial government of oil-rich Alberta has committed to investing C$1.24 billion (US$800 million) to capture emissions from its industrial reserves and now says the time is ripe to do even more, and do it quickly.
Alberta holds the fourth-largest oil reserves in the world, after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran. In terms of its global importance, Canada as a whole is by far the largest crude oil exporter to the U.S., which remains the largest economy in the world.
For the week ending January 7, Canada exported an average of 3.3 million barrels of oil per day (BBL/d) to the U.S., representing 61.2% of the total U.S. imports. By contrast, Mexico sent an average of 584,000 BBL/d to the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, a distant third, sent about half of the amount that Mexico sent.
The viscous form of crude oil that dominates Albertan acreage, however, has a heavy carbon footprint. The provincial government reports that oil sands account for 25% of Alberta's annual emissions. To address that, it's tacked on a C$30 (US$24) per-metric-ton price on carbon emissions for the sector and proposed legislation that would cap permissible emissions.
Elsewhere, the government committed to investing US$1.24 billion (US$800 million) on two large-scale carbon capture and storage projects -- the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line and the so-called Quest Project. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Pipelines Project Database can click here for more information on the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line.
Completed in 2020, the trunk line moves captured carbon through a 150-mile pipeline to end users deploying enhanced oil recovery. Opened in 2018, Quest, operated by Shell, is permanently storing CO2 underground.
Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said in an interview published January 14 by Reuters that the provincial government was accepting requests for proposals to store more carbon underground at a site near Edmonton, the provincial capital. A second vetting round for a similar facility near Cold Lake, home to the mega Athabasca oil sands deposit, is expected shortly after that.
"We have suggested to industry that time is of the essence," she said. "We'll be weighted more heavily towards project proposals that will be in service at an earlier date."
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said carbon capture and storage, along with utilization, (CCS and CCUS, respectively) must be part of the energy transition if there's any hope of reaching net-zero emissions in the global economy.
"On average, capture capacity of less than 3 million tonnes of CO2 has been added worldwide each year since 2010, with annual capture capacity now reaching over 40 million metric tonnes of CO2," the IEA stated in a November report. "This needs to increase to 1.6 billion tonnes in 2030 to align with a pathway to net zero by 2050."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.
Alberta holds the fourth-largest oil reserves in the world, after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran. In terms of its global importance, Canada as a whole is by far the largest crude oil exporter to the U.S., which remains the largest economy in the world.
For the week ending January 7, Canada exported an average of 3.3 million barrels of oil per day (BBL/d) to the U.S., representing 61.2% of the total U.S. imports. By contrast, Mexico sent an average of 584,000 BBL/d to the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, a distant third, sent about half of the amount that Mexico sent.
The viscous form of crude oil that dominates Albertan acreage, however, has a heavy carbon footprint. The provincial government reports that oil sands account for 25% of Alberta's annual emissions. To address that, it's tacked on a C$30 (US$24) per-metric-ton price on carbon emissions for the sector and proposed legislation that would cap permissible emissions.
Elsewhere, the government committed to investing US$1.24 billion (US$800 million) on two large-scale carbon capture and storage projects -- the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line and the so-called Quest Project. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Pipelines Project Database can click here for more information on the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line.
Completed in 2020, the trunk line moves captured carbon through a 150-mile pipeline to end users deploying enhanced oil recovery. Opened in 2018, Quest, operated by Shell, is permanently storing CO2 underground.
Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said in an interview published January 14 by Reuters that the provincial government was accepting requests for proposals to store more carbon underground at a site near Edmonton, the provincial capital. A second vetting round for a similar facility near Cold Lake, home to the mega Athabasca oil sands deposit, is expected shortly after that.
"We have suggested to industry that time is of the essence," she said. "We'll be weighted more heavily towards project proposals that will be in service at an earlier date."
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said carbon capture and storage, along with utilization, (CCS and CCUS, respectively) must be part of the energy transition if there's any hope of reaching net-zero emissions in the global economy.
"On average, capture capacity of less than 3 million tonnes of CO2 has been added worldwide each year since 2010, with annual capture capacity now reaching over 40 million metric tonnes of CO2," the IEA stated in a November report. "This needs to increase to 1.6 billion tonnes in 2030 to align with a pathway to net zero by 2050."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.
