The CCS issue concerns three main stages: capture, transportation, and storage.

Although most of them are already developing capture pilot projects, the European power companies such as E.ON, RWE, NUON and oil & gas companies such as Total and Shell, are still ‘waiting’ for other actors’ further actions.

At another end, the national and European governments are expected to play their role in different areas such as infrastructure (pipelines) to transport the CO2 to storage destinations. Moreover, governments are expected to provide public money for CCS.

For the time being, stakeholders in CCS research & development don't yet show the same excitement towards CCS as the renewable energy pioneers showed in recent years.

However, a new rich actor in the CCS scene might inject some dynamics and, perhaps more importantly, some large amounts of money to make CCS commercially available. Rich oil producer countries such as Saudi Arabia (co-host of a CCS Conference together with the Netherlands) and United Arab Emirates have the money to make it happen.

With CCS they could inject and store CO2 to its half-empty oil fields, increasing the pressure and recovering the remaining oil, a technique known as Enhanced Oil Recovery. Furthermore, exporting countries of hydrocarbons like oil can regard CCS as a technology that will ‘legitimise’ their business in a carbon-constrained world.

In the present stage of CCS development, cooperation between large emitters and fossil fuel producing countries makes perfect sense. Later, when a starting CCS market will be established, competition could develop CCS on a higher level. Arab countries have the money, let’s see if they have the ambition. GreenPrices will keep an eye on future CCS developments in the Arab Peninsula.

Christian Hudtwalcker

Editor GreenPrices News Desk