Enbridge-Led Group Plans CO2 Storage Pilot Project In Alberta
08 Abril 2009 - 2:38PM
Noticias Dow Jones
A group led by Enbridge Inc. (ENB) said Wednesday it plans a
test project to inject carbon-dioxide gas into salt-water basins
deep underground in Alberta.
The 38-member Alberta Saline Aquifer Project, or ASAP, said it
is ready to start the second of three phases, a C$30 million-C$50
million pilot in the Wabamun area west of Edmonton.
The pilot is expected to be up and running between 2012 and
2015, pending regulatory approval, with the group testing the
technologies to inject and store CO2 gas in deep saline aquifers
ahead of a commercial-scale development.
Both the federal government and Alberta's provincial government
have centered their climate-change policies on carbon capture and
storage, betting on the as-yet unproved technology to deliver a big
chunk of its targeted emissions cuts - a stance strongly criticized
by environmental organizations such as Greenpeace.
The energy industry is also largely optimistic about the
technology's potential for "greening" traditionally
emissions-intensive operations. Carbon capture is seen as
especially promising for coal-fired power generation - Alberta's
biggest source of greenhouse-gas emissions - and some elements of
oil-sands development.
ASAP recently won financial backing from the Canadian government
for the pilot project, and has also applied to the Alberta
government for a slice of a C$2 billion fund set aside to promote
the technology.
If the pilot is successful, the group would expand it to a
large-scale commercial project starting between 2013 and 2015. The
C$100 million-C$200 million development would be entirely funded by
the project operators.
Members of the group include BP PLC (BP), EnCana Corp. (ECA),
Petro-Canada (PCZ) and StatoilHydro ASA (STO).
-By Hyun Young Lee, Dow Jones Newswires; 613-237-0669;
hyunyoung.lee@dowjones.com