The Role of CCUS in T&T's Future Energy System

Abstract

Developing and emerging economies face a twofold energy challenge in the 21st century: meeting the needs of billions of people who still lack access to basic, modern energy services while simultaneously participating in a global transition to clean, low-carbon energy systems. Historic rates of progress toward increased efficiency, decarbonization, greater fuel diversity and lower pollutant emissions need to be greatly accelerated in order to do so. The perceived adverse effects of climate change, felt by many and due to the anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases (GHG), and in particular Carbon Dioxide (CO2), are generating immense attention worldwide. Though this is a potential global issue, it is appreciated that small- island states like Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) may face greater risks than most, resulting from the associated rising sea level and land reclamation. The 2017 hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean is empirical evidence of this, with two category 5 storms that brought near to total devastation in Dominica, Barbuda and Saint Martin (all SIDS and neighbours of T&T). These events are evidence that the cash flows associated with GHG mitigation should not be limited in sight to mitigating investments alone, but should also consider the cost incurred when these investments are not made. In addition to be a SIDS with possible increase vulnerability to climate change, T&T registers high levels of CO2 emissions on a per capita and per GDP basis due to its relatively small population size and low carbon efficiency. Though the nation’s absolute CO2 emissions are relatively insignificant, from a sustainability viewpoint, emission management is needed to address the increasing volumes of anthropogenic emissions within. For T&T’s energy climate, the issue of depleting energy resource and that of disproportionate GHG emissions with respect to the country’s population and GDP create an opportunity for the proper utilisation of this waste product. Globally, policies are being designed to increase energy efficiency and renewable production as a means to manage emissions. During the Kyoto Protocol’s period and now with the Paris agreement, the ultimate goal was to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a level needed to mitigate future climate change by providing a framework for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from industrialized nations. These reduction targets can have negative economic impacts that will affect not only the industrialized countries but also other developing countries around the world. In this paper, the authors tackle these issues for T&T through a nationally appropriate mitigation action that can potentially contribute to economic growth via EOR and CCS projects. Though related work has been previously executed for T&T, the major novelty addressed in this paper will be the current price barriers to make this technology appealing to T&T. These include maximum CO2 price (either as a tax or trade commodity) and related minimum oil price of carbon dioxide. It is expected that this work will help policy makers in generating sustainable energy policies that are more likely to succeed if they also contribute toward other societal and economic development objectives. This is important as it only seems logical for a nation with over 100 years’ experience in oil and gas to persist with an energy system that continue to operate in the midst of climate change via related CCUS policies. CCUS can be the transition pillar as the nation gradually move towards renewable energy as it was found that: It was most economical to use CO2 sources from the ammonia plants; It was more economical to transport the CO2 via trucking (especially at low flow rates and in the earlier years of the project life); As the CO2 flow rates increased, the pipelines started to be more economical, in particular, once 2 MT/year was exceeded, the pipeline was the more economical option and especially so for later years in the project; It is possible to sequester approximately 7.3-17.2 MTCO2 over a ten (10) year period based on CO2 utilization rates reported of 4-14.5 Mscf/bbl; Suitable CCUS sinks are located no more than 55km from the CO2 sources in mature oil fields south Trinidad; The minimum oil price for economic viability was 55 USD/bbl; and The maximum CO2 purchase price for economic viability was 35 USD/t.