LARGE-SCALE CCS NETWORKS

Recognition of the emissions mitigation and economic benefits of CCS was illustrated by the announcement of several large-scale CCS networks.

The largest of these was ExxonMobil’s proposal for a Houston Ship Channel CCS Innovation Zone which seeks to bring together multiple stakeholders in support of a concept to capture up to 100 Mtpa of CO2 with permanent geological storage in offshore Gulf of Mexico formations (26), (27). Since the initial announcement in April 2021, ten additional companies have expressed interest in participating in this project.

Elements of three large-scale CCS networks were announced in Alberta, Canada. Shell Canada announced Polaris CCS, a twophase project at its Scotford Complex near Edmonton. The first phase would capture about 0.75 Mtpa of CO2 from the Scotford refinery and chemicals plant. The second phase would create a CO2 storage hub to further decarbonise Shell’s facilities and provide third-party storage. Fully built, the hub could store up to 10 Mtpa of CO2 with a capacity of about 300 MtCO2 over the life of the project.