Shell Captures CO2 at Canadian Oil Sands Plant

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands) has opened one of the most significant carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the world at its Scotford Upgrader oil sands operation in Alberta, Canada.

The Quest CCS project, which was given the green light in 2009, will capture one-third of the emissions from Scotford Upgrader, which turns oil sands bitumen into synthetic crude that is later refined into fuel and other products. The captured CO2 is then transported through a 65-kilometer pipeline and injected under multiple layers of impermeable rock formations, located more than 2 kilometers underground.

The CCS plant is now operating at commercial scale, following extensive testing, which has seen it capture and store 200,000 tonnes of CO2 this year. Shell said the CCS plant will be capable of safely storing more than 1 million tonnes of CO2 each year--equal to the emissions of about 250,000 cars. Quest is located at the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, which is jointly owned by Shell Canada Energy (60%), Chevron Canada (20%), a division of Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) (San Ramon, California), and Marathon Oil Canada (20%), a subsidiary of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) (Houston, Texas).

"Quest represents a significant milestone in the successful design, construction and use of CCS technology on a commercial scale," said Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden. "Quest is a blueprint for future CCS projects globally. Together with government and joint-venture partners, we are sharing the know-how to help make CCS technologies more accessible and cost-effective for the energy industry and other key industrial sectors of the economy."

The project was made possible by significant support from the Albertan and Canadian governments, which provided $651 million in financial support. In 2009, Industrial Info reported on how the provincial government of Alberta promised $1.7 billion in support for a number of key CCS projects, including Quest. For additional information, see July 8, 2009, article - Alberta Provides $2 Billion Incentive for CCS Projects.

Shell is heavily involved in a number of other CCS projects around the globe, including the world's first commercial gas-fired CCS project at Peterhead in Scotland. It is a 340-megawatt (MW), post-combustion capture plant retrofitted to part of an existing 1,180-MW, combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station at Peterhead, Scotland. The CO2 then will be transported by pipeline 100 km offshore for permanent storage in the Goldeneye field, at a depth of 2.6 km. The Captain Sandstone reservoir will act as the primary storage container. For additional information, see September 24, 2015, article - Goldeneye Gas Field is 'Safe' for Storing CO2.

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