Limitations and Fallacies of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Impact on Oil and Gas Production

Abstract

Abstract Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) euphoria is turning the oil and gas operations upside down, without having any perceptible impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) that continues to increase. It is intended to show that the current CCS regimen has serious technical and fiscal constraints, and questionable validity. Carbon Capture, Storage, and Utilization (CCUS) is also discussed briefly. There is ample data to show that the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is unrelentingly increasing, and the annual global CCS is about 0.1% of the 40 billion tonnes emitted. As much as 30% of the carbon dioxide captured is injected/re-injected into oil reservoirs for oil production and is not CCS at all. Several CCS methods are being tested, and some are implemented in dedicated plants in the world. A number of impediments to CO2 capture are identified and limited remedies are offered. It is shown that the problem is so gigantic and has so many dimensions that limited solutions have little efficacy. For example, about one-half of the world's population lives at less than $5 a day and has no recourse to CCS technologies. Major facets of the CCS problem are: (1) Validity of the future atmospheric CO2 concentrations based on the 100+ climate models for global warming. This is not the main discussion but is touched upon. (2) Impact of the desired CO2 concentrations on coal, oil, and gas production. (3) Principal CCS methodologies, including Direct Air Capture. (4) CCS vis-à-vis carbon tax, carbon credits, and carbon trading. (5) CCS subsidies – Is CSS workable without subsidies? At this time, No. The current tax credits for CCUS do not make sense. Finally, attention is given to CCS on a world scale – showing that so long as the great disparities in the living standards exist, CCS cannot be achieved to any significant level. All of the above is seen against the backdrop of oil and gas production and achieving Net Zero. It is shown that globally CCS has not increased beyond ∼0.1% of the global CO2 emissions in the past 20 years. The problem is that in CCS, there is injection only, no production! The paper offers partial solutions and concludes that oil and gas will continue to be energy sources far beyond the foreseeable future, and oil companies will accomplish the needed CSS.