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Governments and industry partners are hopeful that Shell's Quest project will provide the knowledge boost needed to get other carbon capture and storage initiatives off the ground
A partnership between the governments of Alberta and Canada and Shell Canada Limited to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project is expected to result in knowledge that can then be transferred to other industrial processes to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions in Alberta and indeed, across Canada.
In September, Shell Canada announced it would proceed with its $1.35-billion Quest CCS project to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from Shell's Scotford upgrader near Edmonton and move it 80 kilometres through a pipeline to a sequestration site north of Scotford. The carbon dioxide would then be injected more than two kilometres underground in a porous rock formation beneath several layers of impermeable rock.
"Quest is important because it is a fully integrated project that will demonstrate existing capture, transportation, injection and storage technologies working together for the safe and permanent storage of CO2," said John Abbott, who until recently was Shell Canada's executive vice-president, heavy oil. "The knowledge it provides will help to enable much wider and more cost-effective application of CCS through the energy industry and other sectors in years to come."
At the Quest announcement, Shell Canada president Lorraine Mitchelmore revealed that Abbott had been named executive vice-president, manufacturing, for Royal Dutch Shell pic and that she would assume his role as Shell Canada's executive vice-president, heavy oil.
Both the governments of Alberta and Canada have identified CCS as an important technology in their strategies to reduced carbon dioxide emissions. Alberta will invest $745 million in Quest from a $2-billion fund created to support CCS, while Ottawa will invest $120 million through the federal Clean Energy Fund, part of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Economic Action Plan.
The combined funding of $865 million will be phased over the development, construction and first 10 years of operations of the project, and is tied to Quest meeting certain performance targets during this period.
The remainder of the estimated $1.35-billion total cost of the project - which includes construction and 10 years of operating costs - will be funded by Shell and its joint venture partners in the Athabasca...