Carbon capture is not the answer to the climate crisis, In 50 years, CCS has captured just a tiny proportion of global emissions and left a trail of wasted public money in its wake by Rosemary Harris, 20 Oct 2024, The Guardian
The Observer is correct to highlight the urgency of the climate crisis and the signal this year’s devastating hurricane season sends (“Hurricane Milton is a portent. But it’s not too late”). But your conclusion that carbon capture and storage is the “last option” is misleading, defeatist and dangerous.
Carbon capture has a 50-year record of failure. In a half century, the industry has captured a minuscule proportion of global emissions and left a trail of failed projects and wasted public money in its wake. The fossil fuel industry knows CCS is not the answer, yet it keeps pushing it as a distraction tactic to delay the transition to clean energy. The irony is that the very industry you suggest should be paying for cleaning up emissions is instead pocketing billions in public money for failed CCS. Money that should go to transitioning to renewable energy solutions.
Supporting Ed Miliband’s recent announcement to waste £22bn of public money on the fossil fuel industry’s snake oil of carbon capture and blue hydrogen is a shocking misread of the facts.
If CCS is the “weapon” this editorial claims, it is, at best, a very expensive butter knife. We must not give up on the only solution to climate change that works: phasing out fossil fuels.
Massive oilsands carbon capture project gains ‘hope’ after Wilkinson, Freeland meet with Pathways Alliance, Progress on the project is critical for Pathways Alliance to reach its previously announced goal of attaining net-zero emissions from operations by 2050, and for the provincial and federal governments to reach their climate targets by Chris Varcoe, Oct 18, 2024, Calgary Herald
Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson seemed to be running out of patience with the country’s biggest oilsands producers this spring over the slow progress on their proposed $16.5-billion carbon capture network in Alberta.
Today, the tone has changed.
In fact, Wilkinson hopes an agreement between the Pathways Alliance consortium, Ottawa and Alberta can soon be reached to get one of the world’s largest carbon capture networks moving, perhaps even by year’s end.
On Thursday, Wilkinson and federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland met face-to-face in Calgary with members of the oilsands producer group.
Heading into the sit-down, the federal energy minister sounded upbeat.
“The talks that are going on actually have been fruitful over the past few weeks and I’m very hopeful that we’re going to be able to move this ahead in the not-too-distant future,” he said in an interview Thursday.
“I’d probably be going out on a limb to say this year, but ideally it would be before the end of the year — but certainly, if not, early in the new year would be my hope.”
After Thursday’s meeting, officials with the Pathways Alliance — the group includes Cenovus Energy
Encana spawn, Imperial Oil, Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, MEG Energy and ConocoPhillips Canada — called it a “constructive conversation” with the two federal ministers.
Progress on the project is critical for the group to reach its previously announced goal of attaining net-zero emissions from operations by 2050, and for the provincial and federal governments to reach their climate targets.
The carbon capture and storage network would include a 400-kilometre pipeline connecting more than 20 oilsands facilities to an underground storage hub near Cold Lake.
A final investment decision (FID) hasn’t been made, although Pathways made a regulatory application in March for the pipeline.
Talks have continued between the group and the federal and provincial governments over incentives that Pathways officials have said would be needed for the megaproject to advance.
The Alberta government has created a program to offer a 12 per cent grant to carbon capture developments.
The federal government has established an investment tax credit for carbon capture, utilization and storage projects across Canada; it would cover up to half of a development’s capital expenses.
Ottawa is also offering carbon contracts for difference (CCFDs) to provide longer-term certainty on the future price of carbon for such developments.
Wilkinson said Pathways has been talking with the Canada Growth Fund, the federal government’s cleantech financing agency.
“We’ve engaged the Canada Growth Fund to work with Pathways to see if there are some additional things that can be done to provide comfort to Pathways with some of the questions that they have,” the minister said.
“I think Alberta is similarly having its own set of conversations about whether there are some additional things they can do to make the project work from an economic perspective.”
It’s a shift from Wilkinson’s comments last February, when he expressed frustration over the slow pace of progress on the consortium’s foundational carbon capture project, and the industry group said it needed to see more help from governments.
“We are engaged with the Canada Growth Fund to determine the most appropriate way to support major decarbonization projects such as ours,” Pathways president Kendall Dilling said Thursday in a statement.
“It is encouraging to see Ottawa taking steps to de-risk industry investments in large-scale carbon capture projects.”
Canada Growth Fund Investment Management CEO Patrick Charbonneau said in a statement it doesn’t comment on whether individual projects are under consideration.
The federal government wants to see Pathways place a firm order for the pipe, which would represent a major capital investment.
“What we’re looking for is a tangible commitment in terms of money that will demonstrate progress. So it could be the commitment around the pipe, it could be one or two projects that moved to FID,” Wilkinson said.
“Remember, this is multiple projects. It’s 12 to 14 different projects that are bundled together. We’re not going to see FIDs for all of the projects right away but, ideally, it would be the ordering of the pipe.”
Finalizing the talks and seeing the project advance would represent a major step forward for the oilsands as it seeks to decarbonize. It’s a large source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, coming from the largest emitting sector in the country.
It would also help secure future royalties, taxes, capital investment and jobs for a key part of the economy.
“We are encouraged to hear that Canada Growth Fund and the federal government are engaging with Pathways on a project that has significance in Alberta in ensuring we can increase oil production while reducing emissions,” provincial Energy Minister Brian Jean said in a statement.
It’s been difficult for the parties to strike an agreement because some critics will see it as a subsidy, while industry sees carbon capture as an added cost that doesn’t create economic value, said Richard Masson, former CEO of the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission.
For the sector to remain viable during the energy transition, oilsands producers need to demonstrate they can produce oil in the most carbon-efficient manner possible, added Masson, an executive fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
“If we can get this done, it’s something that will unlock decades of value for Canadians,” Masson said.
The talks also take place as Ottawa is preparing to release draft regulations on an emissions cap on the oil and gas industry, and as the next federal election is moving closer.
“I hope a deal happens,” added Heather Exner-Pirot, director of natural resources, energy and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
“It would be great for Alberta, and for the oilsands, and for the country’s emissions-reduction goals to get this settled before the next election.”
Refer also to:
2024: Alberta UCP to vote on celebrating CO2, and not recognizing it as pollutant
A proposal to stop labelling carbon dioxide as a pollutant and instead celebrate it as a “foundational nutrient for all life on Earth” will be up for debate at the United Conservative Party’s annual general meeting in November.
… The policy resolution put forward by the Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock and Red Deer South constituency associations says the carbon cycle is a biological necessity and “The earth needs more CO2 to support life and to increase plant yields, both of which will contribute to the Health and Prosperity of all Albertans.” …
Geoffrey Pounder:
UCP Policy Resolution #12: “CO2 is presently at around 420 ppm, near the lowest level in over 1000 years.”
An obviously unscientific lie.
CO2 levels have remained constant around 280 ppm for millennia.
In the last few million years, CO2 concentrations have cycled between 180ppm and 280ppm in rhythm with the sequence of ice ages and warmer interglacial periods.
Ice core measurements show that for the past 800,000 years up until the 20th century, the atmospheric CO2 concentration stayed within 170—300 ppm.
After meandering between 180 and 300 ppm for hundreds of thousands of years, suddenly CO2 levels rocket upwards in the last 250 years.
From pre-industrial 280 ppm to 419 ppm today represents a 50% increase in CO2. Largely as a result of liquidating an ancient carbon sink and adding long-sequestered carbon to the carbon cycle.
Natural carbon sources and sinks have been in approximate balance since the end of the last glacial period. Fossil fuel combustion upsets this balance. It’s the man-made CO2 that tips the scales.
The last time CO2 was this high, “there was no icecap on Antarctica and sea levels were 25-40m higher. … The elevated CO2 and sea levels were associated with temperatures about 3-6 C higher than today.” (BBC)
The jig is up. Shell and Exxon scientists warned company officials about global warming due to fossil fuel combustion —decades ago. Oil companies anticipated climate change impacts in their engineering designs, while funding campaigns of denial for decades.
A pollutant is any introduced substance that causes harm to the ecosystem or organism: too much, too fast, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
A pollutant is defined in terms of its effects. I.e., its effects upon ecosystems and living things.
Toxicity or damage depends on the dose. Many compounds (nutrients) are essential to life, but in excess are problematic. Over-fertilize your lawn, and watch what happens.
Nitrates and phosphates in agricultural run-off (fertilizer and farm waste) cause eutrophication, creating algal blooms and marine dead zones. In excess, they are pollutants.
CO2 is a greenhouse gas. The main driver of recent warming and the cause of ocean acidification (OA) that endangers marine life. Hence, a pollutant.
“If CO2 is natural, why is it considered a pollutant?” (The Weather Network)
Climate change is not the only issue with fossil fuels. Fossil fuel emissions are not limited to GHGs.
The big 5 major air pollutants cited as posing health risks are all associated with fossil fuels: ground-level ozone, particulates, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide. Other pollutants include volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene, heavy metals (e.g., arsenic, mercury, and lead), nitrous oxides (another GHG), sulfur oxides (acid rain), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), hydrogen sulphide (H2S).
Fossil fuels are responsible for a wide range of pollution issues: ocean acidification; deadly smog; pipeline, rail car, and oil rig explosions; oil spills; tanker collisions; refinery pollution; sour gas leaks; air pollution; water contamination; acid rain; toxic tailings lakes, etc..
Burning less fossil fuels saves two birds with one stone.
Alex Botta:
Judging from all the anti-federal bluster and chatter from the Alberta government you’d be expecting a referendum on Alberta separation any day now. I’ve always said, go ahead and see how far you get.
However, with increasingly crazy policies from the looney fringe like this one on CO2, one could actually want Alberta to leave the fold to live in their own tiny world without pestering the rest of the country.
If the vast majority of Albertans are sane enough to never willingly give up their Canadian citizenship, why do they keep electing idiots?
Tris Pargeter:
A valid question Alex, and I propose an answer: Since we now know JUST how much emotion is involved in political choices, we have to remember how unique Alberta conservatism is in the country, easily winning governance for 40 years basically unchallenged, mainly because of punching above its weight wealth-wise due to oil and gas reserves. This has very much imbued it with a sense of superiority and power relative to all other provinces AND the country as a whole, very much including the federal government.
So conservatism has become not only the primary political identifier for the province, it’s also a PERSONAL identifier that’s on a par with religious affiliation.
And we all know how impossible it is to argue with someone’s RELIGION. That’s “sacrosanct.” But I keep arguing of course that until we DO THAT, we’re at the mercy of mass delusion.
2024: Oil & gas pollution keeps rising as other economic sectors decarbonize.
2024: Humanity vs Life: Are humans destroying natural carbon sinks?
2020: Atmospheric CO2 levels can cause cognitive impairment
As the 21st century progresses, rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations will cause urban and indoor levels of the gas to increase, and that may significantly reduce our basic decision-making ability and complex strategic thinking, according to a new CU Boulder-led study.
… Put simply, when we breathe air with high CO2 levels, the CO2 levels in our blood rise, reducing the amount of oxygen that reaches our brains. Studies show that this can increase sleepiness and anxiety, and impair cognitive function.
… Karnauskas and his colleagues developed a comprehensive approach that considers predicted future outdoor CO2 concentrations and the impact of localized urban emissions, a model of the relationship between indoor and outdoor CO2 levels and the impact on human cognition.
They found that if the outdoor CO2 concentrations do rise to 930 ppm, that would nudge the indoor concentrations to a harmful level of 1400 ppm.
“At this level, some studies have demonstrated compelling evidence for significant cognitive impairment,” said Anna Schapiro, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and a coauthor on the study.
“Though the literature contains some conflicting findings and much more research is needed, it appears that high level cognitive domains like decision-making and planning are especially susceptible to increasing CO2 concentrations.”
In fact, at 1400 ppm, CO2 concentrations may cut our basic decision-making ability by 25 percent, and complex strategic thinking by around 50 percent, the authors found.
The cognitive impacts of rising CO2 levels represent what scientists call a “direct” effect of the gas’ concentration, much like ocean acidification. In both cases, elevated CO2 itself–not the subsequent warming it also causes–is what triggers harm. …
2015: Anadarko sells Wyoming’s largest oil field, Fleur de Lis Energy and KKR buys it for undisclosed sum
… Anadarko subsequently invested millions into Salt Creek, pumping carbon dioxide into aging oil reservoirs to stimulate production. The tactic worked.
Salt Creek’s output increased from roughly 2 million barrels in 2002 to 4.7 million barrels last year, according to state statistics. No other defined oil field produced more in 2014. …
2015: World-First Financial Analysis of World’s First Post-Combustion Carbon Capture Project
The $1.467-billion Boundary Dam Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) facility is the world’s first industrial-scale, post-combustion, CCS project. It is located outside Estevan, Saskatchewan and commenced operations in October 2014. …
Our report finds that the project generates losses in excess of $1-billion for electricity consumers of Saskatchewan: they will be paying for those losses through higher electricity prices for many years to come. That this CCS project was nonetheless built may be related to the nature of the principal beneficiary: The oil industry will substantially profit from a below-cost source of carbon dioxide which it will use to increase oil production from the aging Weyburn Oil Field in Saskatchewan.Encana/Cenvovus/Ovintiv a major beneficiary of this huge gift from the public
2013:
2012: CO2 in Stream, Dead Ducks Prompt Wyo. DEQ Citation against Anadarko
The leak happened in an area where CO2 is injected underground to help revive an old oil field and boost oil production. … A state violation notice says company officials identified a nearby carbon dioxide injection well as the possible source of the leaking gas.
2012: Wyoming DEQ cites Anadarko for unpermitted CO2 release
Carbon dioxide injected into the ground to push out stranded oil bubbled into a stream within a central Wyoming oil field this summer and may have been responsible for killing six ducks and polluting the stream, state regulators say.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality ordered Anadarko Petroleum, the operator in the field, to identify and control a carbon dioxide leak into Castle Creek, according to an agency notice of violation and order posted in August.
The agency also ordered the company to monitor the acidity of the stream until three consecutive tests indicated normal levels.
The agency first investigated the area in July, after Anadarko reported finding six dead ducks in the creek. While visiting the site later, officials discovered carbon dioxide gas bubbling into the water.
Company officials said the gas may have come from a carbon dioxide injection well nearby, according to the violation notice.
Anadarko operates the Salt Creek Field near Midwest, where the company rejuvenated the field’s sagging oil production by injecting carbon dioxide. The gas is injected into formations in order to free oil not brought to the surface using other techniques. …
2012: Scientific American: Can Fracking and Carbon Sequestration Coexist?
2012: Well Design and Well Integrity
… The well construction process only allows one chance to design and install a primary cementing system. … During the drilling phase of a well, the cement sheath must withstand the continuous impact of the drill string, particularly with directional wells. During well completion when the drilling fluid is replaced by a relatively lightweight completion fluid, the negative pressure differential can cause de-bonding at the casing cement and/or cement formation interfaces. The cement sheath must withstand the stresses caused by the perforating operation and resist cracking from the extreme pressure created by the hydraulic fracturing operation.
… It is important to run the casing at a speed that will not fracture the formation. After the casing is in place, common cement failures occur in one of two ways: poor primary cementing or cement failure after setting. Poor primary cementing occurs because a thick mud filter cake lines the hole and prevents good formation bonding. Proper displacement techniques, such as pre-flush, spacers and cement plugs, may not be sufficient because the conventional cement is not the best displacement fluid. Secondly, gas can invade the cement while it sets. During gelling and prior to complete hydration, conventional cement slurry actually loses its ability to transmit hydrostatic pressure to the formation and fluids from the formation migrate freely into the cement. This forms channels that can create future gas leaks. Cement failure after setting occur from mechanical shock from pipe tripping, expansion of the casing and compression of the cement during pressure testing, or expansion and contraction of the pipe due to cycles in injection pressure and temperature.
…
Produced sections with perforations and stimulation through hydraulic fracturing and/or acidizing creates fractures that may have caused increased permeability of the cement sheath. Further bridge plugs with capped cement has shown to be prone to leakage inside the casing.
CO2 doesn’t just kill, CO2 impairs cognitive function.
… Last but not least a Danish researcher reviewed the potential for leakage and concluded that the “dangers of carbon sequestration are real and the development of this technique should not be used as an argument for continued high fossil fuel emissions. On the contrary, we should greatly limit CO2 emissions in our time to reduce the need for massive carbon sequestration.”
Cameron Kerr, a plain-talking farmer, hasn’t read all these studies. But he does have one word of advice for Alberta which plans to bury millions of tonnes of CO2 under farmland throughout the province at a cost of $1 billion to $2 billion a year.
“Don’t let it happen. Shut it down now. You’ll have no different response from government than we got. And you’ll waste lots of taxpayers’ money.”
2008: Bachu, S., Buschkuehle, B.E., Haug, K. and Michael, K. (2008): Subsurface characterization of the Edmonton-area acid-gas injection operations; Energy Resources Conservation Board, ERCBNow AER/AGS Special Report 92, 134 p.
Currently publicly available here: https://ags.aer.ca/publication/spe-092. In case AER removes the report from public access, I uploaded it to my website because it’s important.
CO2 is an acid gas.
From Page 88:
Figure 59 shows the extent of the Acheson original Blairmore T and subsequent St. Albert-Big Lake Ostracod A pools, and of the Strathfield (undefined) gas reservoir in the context of lithofacies changes in the Lower Mannville Basal Quartz and Ellerslie formations. When approval was granted for acid gas injection at Acheson, the regulatory agency required the operator to file annually with EUB and each other operator in the Acheson Blairmore T and St. Albert-Big Lake Ostracod A pools progress reports that “shall include the impact of acid gas injection on the performance of offsetting producing wells”. In March 2004 the operator at Acheson reported that CO2 was detected in 2003 in well 10-22-53-26W4 in the St. Albert-Big Lake Ostracod A pool, located at 3,625 m north from the acid-gas injection well. No H2S has been detected in the produced gas. Since at Acheson the average composition of the acid gas is 87% CO2 and 11% H2S (Table 14), with H2S being denser and more viscous than CO2, it is expected that CO2 would show first at a producing well. In addition, diagenetic processes within the reservoir could have reduced the H2S concentration in the injected acid gas as a result of pyrite precipitation, if an iron source was available. The issue was brought to EUB’s attention andwas heading to a hearing, but the operator at Acheson has indicated to the regulatory agency that it has initiated an Appropriate Dispute Resolution process with the operator of the offset producing well to address the issue of CO2 breakthrough, and that this situation “will be addressed pursuant to the terms of the Mediated Settlement Agreement”.
This case shows that, after 13 years of injection, CO2 has migrated northward a distance of [nearly 4 km] mostly under the combined drive of injection and production. The drive into the St. Albert-Big Lake Ostracod A gas pool has increased lately with the large spike in gas production from this pool (Figure 57b). There are five producing wells much closer to the acid-gas injection well (Figure 59) that did not report CO2 breakthrough, but these wells are owned by the same operator that operated until recently the Acheson acid-gas injection site. If acid gas broke through at any of these wells, it is most likely that the operator just stripped the acid gas from the sour reservoir gas and re-injected it, as the produced gas in this area is sour to begin with. Understanding the migration path and fate of the injected acid gas at Acheson requires a separate study that is beyond the scope of this report.
From the Abstract:
Lateral migration within the gas reservoir has been recorded in 2003 at Acheson, where, after 13 years of injection, CO2 has been detected at an offset producing well at 3,625m distance in the same gas pool. However, migration within the same unit, particularly in a gas reservoir, is expected and its occurrence should not come as a surprise. …
….the possibility for upward leakage of acid gas exists along wells that were improperly completed and/or abandoned, or along wells whose cement and/or tubing have degraded or may degrade in the future as a result of chemical reactions with formation brine and/or acid gas. …
2007: Mazuku – Deadly CO2 pockets 1:31 Min.
2007: Factors Affecting or Indicating Potential Wellbore Leakage
About 15% of vertical and 60% of deviated wells reported leaking.
2006: The Role of the Upper Geosphere in Mitigating CO2 Surface Releases in Wellbore Leakage Scenarios
2006: The Role of the Upper Geosphere in Mitigating CO2 Surface Releases in Wellbore Leakage Scenarios
The cement seals can degrade by chemical action or by fracturing, which increases the effective permeability of the cement. The seal between the cement and the casing and between the annulus and the surrounding formations can also degrade or be faulty at the time of cement emplacement.
2006: Possible indicators for CO 2 leakage along wells
Abstract
Implementation of CO2 storage in geological media requires a proper assessment of the risk of CO2 leakage from storage sites, particularly through and along wellbores. One method of assessing the potential for CO2 leakage through wells is by mining databases that usually reside with regulatory agencies for information about the condition of existing wells. The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUBNow AER) collects from industry and stores information about more than 315,000 oil and gas wells, and injection wells in the province of Alberta, Canada. A preliminary analysis of this information indicates that ~4.6% of these wells have recorded surface casing vent flow (SCVF) or gas migration (GM) through wellbore annuli or outside casing. Data analysis shows that there is a correlation between these occurrences and economic activity, technology changes and regulatory changes. The analysis further shows that the source of SCVF/GM is mostly in relatively shallow strata, with the gas originating at less than 700 m depth in ~90% of the occurrences. This information is representative for potential gas leakage along wellbores in the shallower part of mature sedimentary basins, and can be used in stochastic models for assessing the risk of leakage from CO2 storage sites in geological media.
Introduction
Carbon dioxide capture and geological storage (CCGS) is a means for climate change mitigation that is technologically feasible and with immediate potential for implementation. A particular critical issue that needs addressing before large-scale implementation is that of storage safety. A basic premise is that some CO2 leakage will occur over time, the main question thus being what is an acceptable level of cumulative leakage over time and at all sites that still meets the needs for stabilization of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere [1, 2].
Storage safety refers to the potential harm to other resources, equity and life that a CO2 leak may entail.
The probability and effects of leakage from CO2 storage sites need assessment by both the operator and regulatory agency during the application and permitting process, during the operational phase and after site abandonment [3]. Any fluid in the subsurface, especially a buoyant one like CO2 , will migrate laterally within the injection unit and may leak upwards across formations through faults and fractures and/or defective wells [1, 4]. The potential for CO2 leakage through fractures and faults can be well managed through proper geological characterization and selection of the storage site, and through proper operating procedures. Managing the potential for CO2 leakage through wells is more difficult. Exploration and production wells have been drilled, completed and abandoned since the middle of the 19th century, with variable technology and materials, and with no or under variable regulatory regimes. Well materials (cements, steel, elastomers, etc.) will or may degrade over time, particularly in the presence of corrosive agents such as saline formation water and CO2 [5, 6]. Thus, the potential for leakage through existing wells needs to be assessed for site selection and remediation. New wells will also be subjected to the same in-situ conditions as the existing wells.Dr Tony Ingraffea subsequently found new wells to be worse leakers than older ones, which makes sense given the oil and gas industry’s relentless greed (e.g. using cheaper steel casing), lies, and demanding degegulation which has been consistently granted by our deregulators, notably Alberta’s “No Duty of Care” legally immune AER. …