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American liquefied natural gas exporters are making efforts to reduce carbon emissions from new facilities so that new multi-billion dollar projects can continue to increase amid climate pressures.
The US was created LNG export the explosive growth of the country’s shale oil and diesel in recent years has prompted Americans to push for energy independence claims and given Washington a useful new tool to deal with geopolitical enemies like Russia.
But for a few companies rushing to build new projects where national exports could be higher, global repression of emissions and methane pollution He has threatened to derail their plans from U.S. oil and gas stations.
The European effort to introduce a carbon cap adjustment tax – which could charge a fee for imports with higher emissions – is of particular concern to US LNG companies competing with Russia, Qatar and others on the continent.
The developers of the US LNG project have sought to address the threat by expanding plans to install expensive carbon capture equipment from their facilities, including a commitment to guarantee gas to producers who control their emissions.
The developer of the Venture Global LNG project said last week that it plans to install carbon capture and storage equipment that could eventually capture one million tons of CO2 a year from a new $ 5.8 billion export plant under construction on the Louisiana Gulf coast in Louisiana and expect another one this year.
That happened in March following an announcement by the developer of the NextDecade project, who said he added plans to collect and store about 90 percent of CO2 emissions from that proposed Rio Grande export site in Texas. He hopes to make the final investment decision on the project this year.
Capturing and storing carbon, trapping CO2 and storing it in natural underground deposits, is often encouraged by the oil and gas industry to continue pumping fossil fuels, even as it decarbonizes the global economy.
But carbon capture remains costly and has yet to be widely expanded, making the U.S. LNG proposal a key test of the technology.
NextDecade said it would touch on federal tax credits, known as 45Q, is available for carbon capture projects to help fund development, arguing that a tax credit would add little to the facility’s production costs.
The International Energy Agency recently stressed the pressure on the gas industry report arguing that meeting zero net government targets would mean that many of the LNG facilities under construction would not be needed, if fuel demand goes up in this decade, much earlier than previous projections.
Ross Wyeno, an LNG analyst at S&P Global Platts, said that unlike in the past, new U.S. LNG export projects that they wanted to build “should incorporate a clear strategy around carbon and methane emissions.”
U.S. gas officials have stressed that natural gas, especially protected by emission reductions, could play a role in the transition to cleaner fuels. Natural gas emits about half of its carbon dioxide when coal is burned.
“If you want to achieve the biggest emission reductions, you have to go after coal production and use gas for that. . . and you can achieve massive emission reductions, ”argued Mike Sabel, CEO of Venture Global LNG at last week’s Financial Times event.
But in America’s oil and gas stations, rising methane, a very potent greenhouse gas, and rising amounts of natural gas are fueling green fuel checks.
Last year, the French government intervened to remove an estimated $ 7 billion long-term LNG contract between the French Engie and NextDecade, at least in part because of concerns about U.S.-produced gas methane pollution.
“That was one of the first real verifiable signs that it’s much more than just talking, and that a lot of those projects really have to deal with emissions,” Wyeno said.
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