RIGC Conference, held on September 21-22, 2022, included a panel dedicated to a technology of the future, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), where the opportunities, challenges and legislative steps needed to develop the technology were discussed. CCS has not yet reached maturity, but it promises to become an important solution to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions and to the EU and Romania's 2050 climate goals.
The speakers on this panel were experienced specialists in the field, who contributed with views shaped in the course of an admirable professional activity:
- Andreea Mitiriță, Partner, PwC Romania
- Florina Sora, Head of CO2 Storage Office
- Thorsten Schleier, McKinsey & Company
The panel was moderated by Radu Dudău, Director Energy Policy Group.
Among the most important topics discussed were: the development of CCS in Romania and related legislation, the EU vision on CCS technology, the presentation of the Northern Lights Project, the need for a European Strategy for Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, at a similar level of complexity as the Hydrogen Strategy, the role of CCS in decarbonizing carbon intensive industries such as cement, steel and chemicals, and the importance of CCS in achieving zero carbon emission targets.
Andreea Mitiriță, Partner, PwC Romania, spoke about the main conclusions of the study published by PwC on the benefits of developing this technology. The US is the main market for these units, with half of the world's CCS units located on the North American continent. The number of storage installations in the US has almost doubled to 135, reflecting the high level of interest in the technology. In Europe, too, there is an upward trend in the development of this technology: Norway has 2 warehouses in operation and new ones are under construction in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands. Ms Mitiriță stressed that this type of project requires significant investment, but also that the benefits for Romania are significant: a cleaner climate, new jobs, many highly-skilled people, and a competitive advantage in terms of storage. Romania reaches a level of 767 million tons of annual emissions (also due to lack of investment in polluting industries), but also has a high CO₂ storage capacity of 500 million tons.
Florina Sora, Head of CO₂ Storage Office, ANRM, shows that interest in CCS is growing, from the oil industry but also from other industries such as the cement industry. The main legislative document is the Carbon Storage Directive, which was transposed into Romanian law in 2011, and ANRM, based on its experience in upstream oil and mining legislation, has been designated as the competent authority in this regard. ANRM plays an important role in the selection of storage sites and in the development and modernization of the regulatory framework.
Mrs. Florina Sora pointed out that ANRM has created a Working Group, which is analyzing the legislation and making amendments to accelerate CCS projects in Romania, with the participation of major players in the oil industry, who are members of the FPPG. The tradition in production, experience and knowledge accumulated by the oil and gas industry in exploitation and infrastructure operation make the depleted fields in our country a very good and safe solution for the large-scale application of this technology in Romania. The Working Group has held a series of meetings, in which the legislation was analyzed and problems were identified, and now the Group is in the final stage of proposing amendments to the Ordinance transposing the CCS Directive. The aim is to address issues specific to Romania.
There are also contacts with other stakeholders in order to develop knowledge at European and national level, as well as training on the technical side. Another important step is the participation in various groups coordinated by the European Commission, such as the Information Exchange Group, which aims at adapting the guidelines developed for the implementation of the Directive to make them appropriate to the existing context.
Thorsten Schleier, McKinsey & Company emphasized that decarbonization at industrial level requires CCS technology, and this is true for several sectors, the example given being cement production. McKinsey's estimate of the amount to be stored by CCS technologies is 4,000 million t/year of CO₂. Other estimates go as high as 8,000, 9,000 or even 12,000 mil. t/year. The comparison offered is eloquent: the total weight of the Earth's population is 500 million tons, so the amount of carbon dioxide we need to store is at least 8 times greater.
The leader in developing this technology is the US, but the EU also has certain advantages, including strong market momentum and tariff bonuses. The main obstacles are the very high investment required. Europe also has some infrastructure but lacks others, such as oil recovery facilities. Also, on the technology side, there are patenting impediments, as uptake projects are not homogenous in design but use different technologies.
We invite you to learn more from the recording of the panel discussions and interventions.
