Xodus Prices Dutch CCUS Scheme at $60/mt
UK energy consultancy Xodus Group has put a price of about €50 ($60)/metric ton on the cost of capturing, transporting and storing CO2 under the North Sea at the Dutch Porthos project, it said September 18.
On behalf of the Dutch economy ministry it analysed the proposed fees for the transport and storage requirements of the Porthos project, a joint venture between the Port of Rotterdam Authority, Dutch pipeline operator Gasunie and state producer EBN, which seeks to transport CO2 from industry in the Port of Rotterdam to empty gas fields beneath the North Sea.
The Netherlands aims to reduce greenhouse gases by 49% in 2030 and 95% in 2050 compared with 1990. The CO2 that Porthos will transport and store will be captured from a variety of companies, with Anglo-Dutch Shell, US ExxonMobil, Air Liquide and Air Products already signing joint development agreements. They will supply their CO2 to a collective pipeline running through the Rotterdam port area before being pressurised in a compressor station.
The project was compared with other planned CCUS developments globally with a focus on similar CCUS backbone suppliers. Xodus also recreated the Porthos design in its cost estimating software and database to arrive at an independent tariff estimate and range. The two approaches yielded similar transport and storage 'best estimates', of €50/metric ton, which it said was "encouragingly close to the figures calculated by Porthos."
The head of Xodus' energy transition practice Jonathan Fuller said: "The Porthos project has the potential to make a significant contribution to helping the Netherlands reach its carbon reduction targets." Xodus considered the likely peak CO2 rates, capital and operating expenditures and taxes and modelled the design in its software which yielded a very similar tariff result, giving the certainty needed to move forward.
The CO2 will be shipped about 20km offshore and pumped into an empty gas field more than 3 km beneath the sea. The early years should see about 2.5mn mt/yr being injected with plans to be operational by 2024.
Fuller added: "CCUS is expected to play a vital role in decarbonisation strategies with Shell estimating that in the EU, at least 24mn mt/yr must be installed between 2025 and 2050, at a rate of two per month. The current pipeline falls well short of this goal. A key barrier is the lack of established business models to allow adoption of the technology at scale. Xodus is developing a roadmap for CCUS commercialisation by addressing the policy, business model structures and interactions required between public and private vehicles to achieve success."