Sensible scientific solutions to climate change

[Anonymous]

Stop punishing Canadians and encourage scientific innovation.



[size=150]Alberta project aims to both capture CO2 and boost oil output[/size]



Alberta project aims to both capture CO2 and boost oil output

CALGARY – Nearly a decade after winning millions of government dollars in support, a project with the seemingly contradictory goals of trapping greenhouse gas and boosting oil output is poised to bring a new dimension to the Alberta oilpatch.



In August, Enhance Energy announced it has enlisted Wolf Midstream as a partner on its longawaited Alberta Carbon Trunk Line project to capture CO2 from two Edmonton-area industrial sites and ship it 240 kilometres south to a legacy oilfield near Clive, Alta.



The wells are to be drilled and the line commissioned by late 2019. But that's just the starting point, according to the two private Calgary companies, who say rising carbon taxes in Canada and producer demand for CO2 to coax oil from some of Alberta's less productive oilfields could fuel a rapid expansion of the scheme.



It was a different world in 2009 when the project was promised $63 million from Ottawa under then prime minister Stephen Harper and $495 million from Alberta under former Conservative premier Ed Stelmach. The money was to be spent on upgrading the proposed Sturgeon Refinery to provide a pure CO2 stream for the project, as well as building the pipeline and drilling the wells, with some set aside for operating costs. Startup was expected in 2012, but delays in building the refinery and difficulty in raising capital after the oil price crunch of 2014 resulted in the project being put on hold.



Compressed CO2 mixes with oil trapped in spaces in the rock and increasing pressure so that crude flows more easily toward the recovery wells, said Jabusch. At the surface, the CO2 is separated, recompressed and sent back down an injection well.



In the oilfield Enhance initially intends to tap, about half of the original oil in place has been recovered. "We think we can get another 15 to 20 per cent," said Jabusch, adding the CO2 will be locked underground when all the recoverable oil has been produced and the well is capped and abandoned. He said it won't escape. "We're putting it in reservoirs that have held oil and gas for hundreds of millions of years, so we've got closed containers."



The ACTL line is expected to attract customers building several more 2,000- to 5,000-tonne-per-day enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects over the next five to 10 years, Wolf CEO Gordon Salahor said. EOR, the process of injecting substances including hot and cold water, propane, natural gas and chemicals into underground reservoirs to produce more oil, is nothing new. About 20 per cent of non-oilsands crude in Western Canada is produced using EOR and that production is rising, up 83,000 barrels per day over the past decade, while non-eor volumes have declined by about 116,000 bpd, according to a June report by Capital Markets analysts.



Industries that are among the biggest generators of jobs and wealth in the Canadian economy — think energy, fertilizer, chemicals, cement and steel — also produce the biggest emissions, he said. Capturing the CO2 and storing it underground doesn't provide the revenue needed to make such programs financially sustainable. That's why the ACTL is a "foundational project," he said, noting it runs through the middle of Alberta's Industrial Heartland region and leads to mature oilfields that are ripe for CO2-powered enhanced oil recovery. "It starts to glue together different projects that start to create a bit of an industrial ecosystem around the use of CO2 for economic purposes," said Kenyon.

[Anonymous]

I am registered financial planner, with no direct heavy industrial experience. I do not understand these technologies, but I understand encouraging innovation is the solution to environmental challenges, not punitive taxes or handing off our most valuable industries to countries that don't care about environmental stewardship.





Suncor Energy Inc. – High temperature membranes for steam-assisted gravity drainage water treatment

Canadian Natural Resources Limited – In-pit extraction process

Enlighten Innovations (formerly Field Upgrading Ltd.) – CLEANSEAS™ demonstration project

Heavy Oil Solutions Inc. – partner with Cenovus Energy Inc., partial upgrader with integrated water treatment

MEG Energy – eMVAPEX pilot, phase 3

Cenovus Energy Inc. – Flash Steam Generation field prototype

Imperial – Enhanced bitumen recovery technology pilot

ConocoPhillips Canada – Non-condensable gas co-injection for thief zone mitigation

Cenovus Energy Inc. – Multi-pad pilot of a solvent-aided process



The projects are estimated to result in potential greenhouse gas emissions reductions of up to 4.1 million tonnes of annual CO2 emissions reductions in Alberta by 2030. This is equivalent to more than 440,000 homes' energy use for one year.



"Our DSU® technology is a cleaner and cheaper way to meet the new global marine fuel sulphur regulations. It can be transported and installed anywhere, from ports to refineries all across this country. The CLEANSEAS™ project offers a unique opportunity for Alberta and Canada to showcase our clean tech innovation to the world. ERA recognizes that our technology is a Made-in-Canada solution to a global issue and they have been a strong supporter through its development. This funding will advance our plans to commercialize DSU®, in turn producing value-added products, creating jobs, and helping to further Alberta's goal of being a global clean tech leader."



Lorraine Mitchelmore, president and CEO, Enlighten Innovations

[Anonymous]

Kneecapping our best job producers by saying to critical infrastructure, and taxing something essential to sustain life like carbon dioxide is retarded. It just means other countries will produce carbon intensive industries like agriculture, manufacturing, energy and heavy metal production. Getting products to markets, domestic and international also uses carbon and there is no way around that reality.



I do not believe that man can really stop the climate from changing. But, there are common sense solutions that we know reduce C02 emissions  that the shut everything down that moves extremists don't want you  to  know.



Saskatchewan's lentil producers, who produce a crop that fixes nitrogen in the soil and helps lower GHG emissions. Growing more lentils in Saskatchewan would actually help mitigate climate change. But customers in India will soon have a choice between buying Saskatchewan lentils at a higher cost with a carbon tax built in, or buying from lower-cost suppliers.



A better approach is to develop and deploy technology capable of cleaning up emissions from the 2,400 new coal-fired power plants being planned or constructed around the world.



Carbon-capture technology works. Carbon taxes don't.

[Bricktop]

Do as we do!!!



Dump this carbon tax BS.

[Anonymous]

Do as we do!!!



Dump this carbon tax BS.

Make it a twofer. Dump Justine too.

[Frood]

CO2 is the substance of thriving life. More CO2!

[JOE]

...Sensible solutions to climate change?



How about birth control.



It's no secret since the planet's population  has doubled in 50 years that there are too many people that the world with its present means of consumption can sustain.



Twice as many people has meant many times the pollution co2 emissions, cars, industrial waste.



No wonder the planet's ecosystems are falling apart.



I m f should provide outright debt forgiveness & a boost in the credit ratings to poor nations which legally and ethically manage to bring their birth rates under control

[Anonymous]

Birth control, and environmental sustainability are concerns for Whites and Orientals only. The rest of the world does not give two shits.