Share DNV has awarded the world’s first certificate of fitness for a carbon dioxide (CO2) storage development plan to Shell’s Quest Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project. The proposed Quest project will capture and permanently store underground more than one million tonnes of CO2 per year from its Scotford Upgrader, near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. Together with industry and governments, DNV has recently developed recommended guidelines and best practices for CO2 geological storage selection and risk assessment. They were commissioned by Shell to coordinate a comprehensive review to assess the suitability of the Quest project’s underground storage formation to safely and permanently store injected CO2. DNV assembled a panel of seven CCS experts from academia and research institutions to perform the review over a two-week period.
Ian Silk, Shell’s Quest Venture Manager had this to say: “The DNV certification is important because it provides third-party validation that our project meets rigorous storage standards. It also helps to confirm the capability and capacity of the Basal Cambrian Sands storage formation that we will be injecting into. Proving up this saline formation for storage, which underlies a good portion of the province of Alberta, is imperative to enable the future CCS projects that will be required to help the government achieve its targeted CO2 reductions.”
CCS technology represents an opportunity to decrease atmospheric CO2 emissions from large point sources including coal and gas-fired power plants, oil sands/bitumen processing refineries, iron and steel mills and cement factories. It also has the potential to make a major contribution to worldwide efforts to mitigate climate change.