UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said that it will go ahead with the implementation of CO2 capture technology at the Habshan-Bab gas processing facilities or the Shah gas plant in a move to boost oil recovery.
Image: ADNOC could use CO2 capture technology at the Shah gas plant. Photo: courtesy of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
The company said that it will take a decision in 2019 on which plant it will select first to implement the CO2 capture technology, in order to expand the capture, storage and utilization of carbon dioxide (CO2).
According to ADNOC, the project will be designed in such a way that there will be no interruptions in the existing production from either facility.
The additional CO2 capture is expected to lower the company’s carbon footprint and free up natural gas, which was previously used for oil field injection. The liberated natural gas will be used for other more valuable purposes, said the company.
The project, as a result, is expected to help in addressing increasing global demand for oil by boosting recovery from the company’s maturing reservoirs.
The Shah gas plant in Abu Dhabi contains more than 20% hydrogen sulfide and 10% CO2, said ADNOC. By 2025, the company plans to undertake modifications to the facility to enable the gases to be captured under a sulfur recovery process and converted into pure CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
Through advanced CCUS technology, the company aims to capture an excess of 2.3 million tons per annum of CO2 and store it underground.
The Habshan and Bab complex, on the other hand, could see a CO2 capture of 1.9 million tons per year, said ADNOC. Using second- and third-generation carbon capture technologies, the company is looking to capture around five million tons of CO2 per year before 2030.
An announcement regarding the implementation of the CO2 capture technology by ADNOC was made by the company’s executive office director Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi at the International Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) Summit in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Suwaidi said: “CCUS is an important part of a range of critical solutions to mitigate industrial CO2 emissions and reducing environmental footprints, while responding to the increasing need for energy and the continuously growing demand for oil and gas, in particular.
“Not only does the technology help address environmental concerns by safely locking away CO2, but it also enables valuable and cleaner burning gas, previously used to enhance oil recovery, to be leveraged for other purposes, including power generation, desalination and industrial uses.”