Sarawak Shell partners Petronas to unlock carbon capture, storage opportunities

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Tan (right) and Adif showing the JSCA to jointly collaborate on CCS opportunities, particularly in the study for suitable carbon dioxide storage locations in Malaysia.

KUCHING (January 11): Sarawak Shell Bhd (Sarawak Shell) and Petronas have signed a Joint Study and Collaboration Agreement (JSCA) to jointly collaborate on carbon capture and storage (CCS) opportunities, particularly in the study for suitable carbon dioxide storage locations in Malaysia.

This collaboration will help both parties build sustainable and carbon-resilient portfolios in the upstream by identifying suitable potential carbon dioxide storage and management solutions, which can also be utilised by other local and regional industries as part of their decarbonisation efforts.

Signing on behalf of Sarawak Shell was Shell Malaysia chairman and senior vice president upstream Malaysia, Ivan Tan, while Petronas was represented by its executive vice president and chief executive officer of upstream, Adif Zulkifli.

“This collaboration is an important first step in harnessing the potential of CCS as a decarbonisation solution for Malaysia and the region, in pursuit of the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“The transition to a lower-carbon energy system requires unprecedented collaboration.

“We deeply value our long-standing relationship with Petronas and believe that this partnership will leverage our respective capabilities to jointly develop reliable, technology driven CCS solutions that could decarbonise our own operations while significantly reducing emissions in Malaysia,“ shared Tan in a statement.

Under the terms of the JSCA, both parties will collaborate in evaluating the potential to create carbon capture and storage hubs in selected locations offshore Sarawak and assess commercial, policy and regulatory frameworks which can enable the robust development of CCS in Malaysia.

The study will be an important step to enable Shell and PETRONAS to create a decarbonisation solution allowing other local Malaysian industries, as well as other customers in the region, to capture and safely store emissions, helping to tackle climate change

This JSCA is in line with Shell’s target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, in step with society. Shell has started to transform its business to meet this target, providing more low-carbon energy such as biofuels and charging for electric vehicles as well as low-carbon electricity.

Where it is not possible to avoid emissions, such as in heavy manufacturing and heavy goods transportation, these emissions will need to be captured using technology.

Shell is pursuing innovative solutions to remove and store carbon safely using technologies such as CCS. Globally, Shell has been pursuing CCS solutions including for the Quest project in Canada (Shell-operated) and as part of consortium for the Northern Lights CCS project in Norway.

CCS is a combination of existing technologies that capture and store carbon dioxide deep underground, preventing its release into the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is separated from the gases produced by industrial processes, transported to locations where it can be stored in geological repositories, deep underground, thus reducing emissions to atmosphere.