PARIS--French utility Gaz de France presented Feb. 12 details of an
experimental plan to reduce climate change risks in the Netherlands by capturing carbon
dioxide emissions at offshore natural gas wells and reinjecting the gases back into the
ocean floor.
The carbon sequestration project, which has financial backing from
the Netherlands, is slated to begin pilot operations in April at a well located about 100
kilometers (62.5 miles) off the country's North Sea coast, officials said.
Gaz de France has been operating the K12-B site since 1987, and it
has nearly "exhausted" initial gas reserves of 14 billion cubic meters.
The carbon reinjection project will serve two goals: enabling Gaz de
France to continue operations, while providing hard evidence on whether carbon
sequestration offers a potential solution for climate change, officials said.
The six-month pilot project will see 10,000 tons of CO2
filtered out of production and then reinjected back into the well for long-term storage
3,500 to 4,000 meters below the surface.
The Netherlands will pay 90 percent of all expenses during the
experimental phase of the project, as part of a wider [Euros]13.6 million ($17.5 million)
CO2 Reuse Through Underground Storage (CRUST) research program. The CRUST
program was launched in 2001 to determine the potential effectiveness of carbon
sequestration.
[Euros]20 Million Price to Start
Positive results from the pilot sequestration project could lead the
Netherlands to push for widespread use at offshore sites from 2005, Gaz de France
officials said. Widespread adoption would cost approximately
[Euros]20 million ($25.8 million) in initial infrastructure, but it could see the
Netherlands capture and store up to 480,000 tons of CO2 each year, at an annual
cost of just [Euros]4 million ($5.1 million), Gaz de France said.
At these levels, carbon sequestration operations would cover about
10 percent of the Netherlands' total greenhouse gas reduction commitments under the
European Union's burden-sharing agreement. That agreement is designed to help the EU as a
whole to meet its carbon dioxide reduction goal of 8 percent by 2012, based on 1990
levels, under the Kyoto Protocol. It requires the Netherlands to cut CO2
emissions 6 percent over the 2008-12 period, against the 1990 baseline year.
The Gaz de France project is being monitored under the European
Union's CASTOR (CO2, From Capture to Storage) project, which seeks to develop
innovative technologies through public/private partnerships for the capture, transport,
and storage of CO2.
The EU objective is to enable the capture and geological storage of
10 percent of European CO2 emissions, which corresponds to about 30 percent of
all CO2 emitted by European power and industrial plants.
Further information on the Gaz de France project in the
Netherlands is available, in French, at http://www.gazdefrance.com/presse/dossiers.php4
under "La sequestration du CO2: un défi industriel pour un développement
durable."
BNA International Environmental Reporter
Volume 27 Number 4
Wednesday, February 25, 2004 |
Page 157 |
| ISSN 1522-4090 |