U.S., Saudis join forces
The two nations will collaborate on carbon capture technologies.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry has signed a deal with the Saudi Arabian government to allow its Ministry of Energy to collaborate with the U.S. Department of Energy on technologies designed to reduce the carbon dioxide output of fossil fuels.
The Department of Energy said last week the memorandum of understanding between the two countries would extend to carbon capture as well as methods such as chemical looping and oxy-combustion that make it easier to remove carbon dioxide from emissions.
“Together through the development of clean energy technologies,” Perry said in a statement, “our two countries can lead the world in promoting economic growth and energy production in an environmentally responsible way.”
Carbon capture and other technologies that seek to prevent carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, from entering the atmosphere are considered by analysts and industry officials as critical to the future of oil, gas and coal industries as countries around the world seek to slow climate change. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and a major contributor to global warming.
Earlier this year, at an international energy conference in Houston, the Saudi oil minister called on the industry to find ways to “minimize the carbon footprint of fossil fuels.” Three major European oil companies, Statoil, Total and Royal Dutch Shell, meanwhile, are assembling a network of technology and facilities that will capture and store carbon dioxide released from industries in Norway, with a goal of expanding to other countries.
Despite such ambitions, carbon capture systems are few and far between. Even with some success stories — like NRG Energy’s retrofitting of a Texas coal plant through the Petra Nova project — the costs remain high. The uses for captured carbon dioxide are limited to pumping it underground to increase oil production, and logistical and legal questions abound around storing it underground.
Petra Nova, installed at the W.A. Parish power plant in Fort Bend County, cost an estimated $1 billion. Each day, the system, which began operating about a year ago, can capture more than 5,000 tons of carbon dioxide, which is piped 80 miles away to an aging oil field. NRG has said it is unlikely to build another such project unless economics change to make it profitable.
The Obama administration awarded a $190 million grant to NRG to develop the Petra Nova project. But President Donald Trump has proposed cutting the program that funds the research and development of carbon capture systems by 50 percent.
Perry has suggested that he would like to put more money into carbon capture research. The technology also has support among some Democrats and Republicans in Congress, who believe that any hope of meeting the 2015 Paris accord’s goal on climate change will require the development of carbon capture.
“Our two countries can lead the world in promoting… energ y production in an environmentally responsible way.” Energy Secretary Rick Perry