Qatar Petroleum Plans Major CCS Project

Qatar Petroleum will ensure that its giant North Field Expansion project has as small a carbon footprint as possible, CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi told the Oil & Money conference in London October 8. "Qatar is taking a long-term environmental strategy," he said.

This will include carbon capture and storage from the plant's emissions, including the CO2 extracted from the feed gas. And the boilers, generators and other plant at the existing LNG facilities will be retrofitted to be cut sulphur and nitrous oxide emissions, he said. 

The company is planning a cross-country pipeline to carry 5mn mt/yr of CO2 for injection into an oil field to enhance the oil recovery, but that is not the only reason for doing it, he said. "There are no regulations or quotas. We are doing it from a sense of responsibility. It is not a money generator."

QP has already successfully commissioned the biggest CCS plant in the Middle East and North Africa, which takes 2.1mn mt/yr, he said. The CO2 is injected into a deep aquifer.

This approach is appropriate for the 32mn mt/yr LNG project whose aim is, among other things, to help "the world shift to a less carbon-intensive energy," to use his words. He said QP would apply the best technology money can buy to make the plant as efficient as possible. The plant will emit a quarter less greenhouse gas than comparable plants, he said.

The conference, held in central London, had to be briefly evacuated in the morning as Extinction Rebellion had booked a room in the hotel and activated a fire alarm, a delegate told NGW. After 40 years, this is its last event held under this name: next year's will avoid 'oil', and have 'energy' in the title instead.