Oil major Shell said its Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project in Canada has reached a milestone with one million tonnes of CO2 ahead of schedule.
The Quest project was built by the Athabasca Oil Sands joint venture owners Shell Canada Energy and Chevron Canada Limited as well as Marathon Oil Canada Corporation.
It has also had investment from both the Alberta and Canadian government totally more than $800million.
Zoe Yujnovich, Executive Vice President, Oil Sands for Shell, said:“The success we are seeing in Quest demonstrates that Canadians are at the forefront of carbon capture and storage technology, showing the world that we can develop real solutions to address climate change.
“Not only is Quest capturing and storing CO2 emissions from our oil sands operations, but its technology can be applied to other industries around the world to significantly reduce their CO2 emissions.
“Supportive government policy was essential in getting Quest up and running and will continue to play a vital role in developing large-scale CCS projects globally.
“Together with government, we are sharing lessons learned through Quest to help bring down future costs of CCS globally.
“If Quest was built again today, we estimate that it would cost 20-30 per cent less to construct and operate thanks to a variety of factors including capital efficiency improvements and a lower cost environment.”
Shell said one of the lessons learned has been how significant cost savings can be achieved through joint transportation and storage facilities.
Operating costs for the Quest project have already been 30% less than anticipated mainly due to lower fixed costs and energy efficiency savings.
