Canada's CO₂ Capture and Storage TRM 
The Opportunities: Low-Emissions Fossil Fuels

• International Opportunities for CCS
  • Storage Potential
  • Sources
• National Opportunities for CCS
  • Storage Potential
  • Sources
• Value of Low-Emissions Fossil Fuels
• Section Summary

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Canada is well suited to benefit from the development and subsequent roll-out of CCS technology at home and abroad. CCS is an opportunity that will contribute to mitigating climate change effects. It is an economic opportunity in that the technology would be used in both Canadian and global applications, thus opening a large market to whoever develops the technology. Adding value to already innovative and advanced fossil fuel sectors and enhancing their resource base, through the development of new technology and knowledge, would provide further benefits to all Canadians.

As illustrated in Figure 4, CCS involves a suite of opportunities (and therefore technologies) along the entire value chain, from the capture of CO₂ from large point sources, to its subsequent compression and transportation from one site to another, and finally through its injection and storage into underground geological formations. As an example, the process may involve capture from industrial sources, like a power plant, transportation via a CO₂ pipeline, and injection into either value-added or non-value-added storage sites (such as producing oil and gas reservoirs, coal beds or deep saline aquifers).

It is serendipitous that fossil fuel combustion contributes the majority of global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions, and yet one of the greatest opportunities for storage is the available pore space in former fossil fuel reservoirs. In addition, many of the capture opportunities are in the fossil fuel installations and facilities. Added to this, CO₂ can be used to enhance the recovery of fossil fuels by using it to sweep the resource out of pore space thereby storing the CO₂ in the vacated reservoir space (as illustrated in option 2 of Figure 4). The side benefit of enhancing recovery (whether using CO₂-EOR, CO₂-ENGR, or CO₂-ECBM) means that these storage opportunities will likely be pursued first, followed by storage in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs and in deep saline aquifers.

This section begins with a look at the opportunities for CCS in a global setting, by looking at global storage potential and source opportunities. Following this is an account of the opportunity in Canada, again looking at both storage and source potentials. The approach of discussing storage prior to sources is intentional as it is important to know something about ultimate storage capacity before discussing how much CO₂ to capture.

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International Opportunities for CCS

Table 6: CCS Programs and Initiatives

Programs / Initiative	Organizational Facts	Mission
Source: CCP, 2005; CSLF, 2005; IEA GHG Programme, 2005; USDOE, 2005; CO2CRC, 2005; and CCCSTN, 2005.
CO2 Capture Project	Industry led initiative of 8 oil and gas companies which includes some government involvement initiated in 2000	Develop new breakthrough technologies which reduce the cost of CCS
Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF)	International initiative established in 2003 consists on 20 members, including China the U.S., Japan, Canada and several E.U. members.  The CSLF consists of major energy producing countries and users under one organization.	Facilitate the development of CCS technologies; make CCS technologies broadly available internationally; and identify and address wider issues relating to CCS (such as policy or regulatory issues)
International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas Programme (IEA GHG Programme)	International collaborative research program (includes 16 members countries and 10 industry sponsors) established in 1991. A major focus under the IEA GHG Programme is CCS.	Evaluation of technologies aimed at reducing GHG emissions; promote and disseminate results and data from evaluation studies; facilitate practical research, development and demonstration (RD&D) activities
United States Department of Energy (USDOE) Carbon Sequestration Technology Roadmap and Program Plan	U.S. Government R&D program focused on CCS; annually updates its Carbon Sequestration Technology Roadmap and Program Plan.	R&D on affordable and safe sequestration approaches to reduce GHG emissions using CCS, and thereby helping stabilize atmospheric GHG concentrations
Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC)	Australian government program to support collaboration between government, industry and research centres in Australia and like entities around the world	Research and logistic, technical, financial and environmental issues of capturing industrial sources of CO2 emissions and storing them in deep geological formations
Canadian CO2 Capture and Storage Technology Network (CCCSTN)	Collaborative multi-stakeholder effort to drawn on synergies among Canadian CCS research efforts underway; initiated CCSTRM process in Canada	Promote the development and deployment of zero-emissions technology in Canada, with a focus on CCS technology

To date, most CCS activities have been or are taking place in North America, Europe (in and around the North Sea), Australia and Japan, and these countries/regions are considered the past and present leaders in developing CCS. Many years ago the International Energy Agency (under its Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme) foresaw that CCS technology would play a significant role in future efforts to mitigate climate change. The IEA still sees CCS as a "promising storage option capable of achieving deep reductions in the foreseeable future" (IEA GHG R&D Programme, 2005). A number of international initiatives, programs and partnerships have the specific intent of developing and deploying CCS technology (see Table 6), which indicates the degree of international support this technology area is receiving today.

The IPCC has recently provided the UNFCCC with advice on CCS technologies (for both geological and ocean storage). The recent report, entitled IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage, will be used in future UNFCCC deliberations to discuss and make policy decisions on the future role for geological and/or ocean storage in mitigating climate change. The IPCC report states that, in the portfolio of measures for stabilizing GHG concentrations, capture and geological storage is important because it offers the potential to make GHG reductions during the next decades while fossil fuels continue to dominate energy markets (IPCC, 2005). CCS (using geological storage) is one of few options available today that can offer the deep GHG reductions needed beyond those achieved through energy efficiency and fuel switching. Even during a new energy future, where hydrogen and electricity are the energy carriers, CCS would have a role.

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Storage Potential

Based on the study of natural and engineered analogues, it seems likely that CO₂ can safely be stored in geological formations around the world. CO₂ already occurs naturally in large volumes in many different geological formations around the world, where it has been safely trapped for millions of years. Often CO₂ occurs in sedimentary basins that also hold oil, natural gas and other liquids or gases for geological timeframes. At depths below 800 m, CO₂ is in a supercritical (liquid-like) phase, and has a density that efficiently allows it to be stored in pore space (IPCC, 2005).

The geological structures and physical properties of oil and gas fields have been extensively studied and are very well understood worldwide. In addition, infrastructure and wells are already in place in these regions and could be adapted or augmented for the handling and storing of CO₂. This significantly increases ultimate storage potential because it increases the economics of actually injecting and storing CO₂ underground.

Table 7: Global Geological Storage Capacity

Storage Opportunity	Storage Potential (in GtCO2)
Source: IPCC, 2005
Depleted Oil and gas fields (including EOR and ENGR)	675 to 900
Unminable coal seems (including ECBM)	3–15 to 200
Deep Saline Aquifiers	1 000 to 10 000
Total Geological Storage	1 678 to 11 100

The world houses hundreds of sedimentary basins which are variously suited for CO₂ storage; some provide excellent opportunities, others require further study, and some are not at all suitable. Estimates of the global technical potential for geological storage are shown in Table 7. Clearly the greatest volumetric potential exists in deep saline aquifers, but enormous potential also exists in depleted oil and gas fields and coal seams (that cannot be mined). Because of existing expertise and knowledge related to the oil and gas reservoirs, and because of the economic benefit of using CO₂ for EOR, ENGR and ECBM, it is likely that these opportunities will be the focus for initiating CCS infrastructure and systems development. At today's rate of GHG emissions, this economic capacity may represent hundreds of years of storage potential (IPCC, 2005)

Figure 5 depicts the geographic location of storage sites around the world, indicating the locations where storage potential is highly prospective versus improbable. The information in this figure is relatively cursory and will likely change as further research is conducted, however it serves well for illustrative purposes. While storage capacity exists around the world, certain regions have greater potential than others.

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Sources

A number of factors are used to determine the practicality of CO₂ source opportunities. The volume of CO₂ emissions available is important because high volumes are needed to justify the cost of developing infrastructure. CO₂ concentration, and its partial pressure in the gas stream, is also important as both play into the efficiency of capturing and compressing the CO₂. Only stationary sources are being considered at this time because even the largest non-stationary sources (ocean liners or aircraft) are too small to justify CO₂ capture in these applications today.

A database of 8049 industrial facilities around the world has been compiled, each of which emits more than 100 ktCO₂e annually. Together, these facilities account for 70 percent of global CO₂ emissions (IPCC, 2005). Of these sources 4942 generate power and collectively account for 10538 MtCO₂e/yr. Table 8 illustrates these sources by depicting the total number of large point sources by category and the total allocated emissions globally by facility type.

Table 8: Global Sources of CO₂ by Number of Facilities and Total Emissions

Type	Number of Facilities	Emissions (MtCO2/Year)
Source: IPCC, 2005
Power (Coal, Gas, Oil and Other)	4 942	10 538
Oil and Gas Processing	465	2 841
Cement Production	1 175	932
Refineries	638	798
Iron and Steel	169	646
Petrochemical	470	379
Other	90	33

A wide variety of sources exist, including thermal power plants, oil and gas processing plants and other industrial facilities. Power generation, especially coal-fired, is considered the greatest opportunity for CCS in the long-term because of the abundance of global coal reserves and because of the CO₂ emissions profile from this industry. CCS will likely have its greatest impact in this segment of the energy sector. The next priority industries become oil and gas processing and refining, and manufacturing (such as cement, iron and steel and petrochemicals). A third category would likely be transporation emissions (not included in the table), with the intent being to de-carbonize transporation fuels prior to using them, which of course will not happen until significant changes occur to the transporation infrastructure and systems.

From all these potential source options, a number of niche opportunities rise to the top. These include the high concentrated sources such as hydrogen production and fertilizer manufacturing facilities. Fertilizer plants are often considered the earliest opportunities for deploying CO₂ capture in commercial applications. Approximately 13 MtCO₂e could be captured from these facilities today (IPCC, 2005).

The geographic distribution of industrial sources is important when identifying the top opportunities. Remote sources are not ideal because of the cost of transportation. Figure 6 illustrates the global source opportunities (by size) overlaid on the same map as was used in Figure 5. First examination of the two maps reveals some good potential correlations between sources and storage basins, with many sources either situated on top of or within 300 km of a storage site (IPCC, 2005). In some cases, the sources are close to producing oil or gas fields (as in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin), thus offering both the environmental opportunity for storage and the economic opportunity for enhanced hydrocarbon production. However, the IEA notes that many of the largest sources in Europe, China and India are far from the best storage opportunities in Russia, the Middle East and Africa (IEA, 2004). Therefore, while there is some geographic correlation, many of the largest opportunities to reduce emissions would require large-scale transportation networks (either pipelines or ocean tankers) to move CO₂ to adequate storage sites. The relative location of sources and storage opportunities is one of the limiting factors on the development of CCS infrastructure and systems.

By matching local point sources with commercially CO₂-EOR, CO₂-ENGR or CO₂-ECBM opportunities, the IPCC has identified over 500 international projects with potentially low net CCS costs. This constitutes quite a lot of potential to initiate the development of a global CCS industry just by focusing on these 500 sites alone.

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National Opportunities for CCS

The development and commercialization of CCS technology would have positive impacts in certain regions of Canada. Many domestic industries utilize CO₂-intensive processes in their activities and many regions throughout the country have excellent storage potential in close proximity to the sources. The greatest opportunities, on both the capture and storage sides of the equation, are in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB), an area spanning the Canadian jurisdictions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, and stretching into the U.S. Several cross-border CCS opportunities exist, not unlike the current project underway in Weyburn, Saskatchewan — a Canadian CO₂-EOR project being supplied with CO₂ from a U.S. coal gasification facility.

Storage Potential

Canadian territory includes 68 individual sedimentary basins, many of which are offshore and along the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic coasts. The sedimentary basins with the highest CO₂ storage potential are illustrated in Figure 7, which depicts the individual, smaller basins under 11 regional basins such as the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin and the South West Ontario Basin.

Two continental basins (the Alberta and Williston Basins) comprise the WCSB, which contains most of oil and natural gas production in Canada. The WCSB is world class in terms of hydrocarbon resources and geological storage potential. The offshore basins along the east coast (such as the Atlantic and Labrador Basins), and northern basins (like the Beaufort-Mackenzie, Canadian Arctic Island and Baffin Basins) may also become important storage sites in the future as the hydrocarbon resources are extracted and produced from these regions.

The sedimentary basins in Figure 7 are examined and ranked in terms of suitability for long-term CO₂ storage in Table 9, using the following criteria for the ranking:

• Appropriate depth and pressure to allow CO₂ storage in its dense phase (800 to 1000 m in warm basins and 1000 to 1500 m in cold basins); or, if the storage mechanism is coal adsorption, 300 to 1500 m.
• Tectonically stable areas not subject to folding and faulting, which increase the chance of leakage and seepage (thus the Pacific and Intramontane Basins are generally not considered appropriate).
• Under-pressured formations, which generally have fewer technical and safety issues and are therefore more suitable (deep formations in the Beaufort-Mackenzie and Atlantic Basin are often over-pressured).
• Deep saline aquifers, for which there is an understanding of long range regional-scale flows which ensure extremely long residence times for the CO₂.
• Extensive cap-rock to ensure that the CO₂ has little chance to migrate to shallower horizons and eventually seep to the surface.
• Mature and developed hydrocarbon fields where reservoir characteristics at the injection site are well known; knowledge and experience helps ensure the viability of effective injection into depleted pools.
• Close proximity to substantial CO₂ emissions sources and where the local conditions and infrastructure may enable CO₂ transport to the injection sites.

Table 9: Suitable Canadian CO₂ Storage Basins

Basin Name	Suitable Ranking	Suitable Rationale
Note: The ranking of offshore sedimentary basins also reflects the legal uncertainty of the permissibility of geological CO2 storage under the London Convention and/or the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Source: Bachu, 2000; Gunter and Chalaturnyk, 2004
WCSB (includes Alberta and Williston)	1  (Top Score)	Mature, thick sedimentary basin with well understood geological characteristics; most hydrocarbon pools have been discovered and are being produced and many pools are either depleted or nearing depletion  Many locations have infrastructure in place that could be leveraged and utilized for CO2 transportation and injection.
Beaufort-Mackenzie	2	Immature sedimentary basin still being explored.  Hydrocarbon pools not yet producing and infrastructure not in place.  Remote from large CO2 sources
South West Ontario	3	Thin sedimentary cover over the arch that separates the Michigan and the Algonquin Basins; has undergone substantial diagenesis (i.e., subjected to large changes).  Close proximity to large CO2 sources
St. Lawrence River	4	Thin sedimentary basin that has undergone substantial diagenesis. Close proximity to large CO2 sources.
Atlantic Shelf	5	Immature sedimentary basin that is still being explored.  Production of developed pools is still in early stages.  Expensive offshore transportation and injection infrastructure.
Canadian Artic Island	6	Immature sedimentary basin that is still being explored.  Remote from large CO2 sources, plus offshore transportation and injection infrastructure will be costly.
Gulf of St. Lawrence	7	Good potential in eastern part of basin that underlies western Nova Scotia, particularly in deep coal beds.  Rest of basin is generally unexplored.  Offshore location makes it expensive to build transportation and injection infrastructure
Hudson Bay	8	Immature sedimentary basin largely unexplored.  No commercial hydrocarbon discoveries, thus no infrastructure in place.  Remote and far from large CO2 sources.
Intramontane	9	Significant potential for storage in coal beds.  Considerable faulting and folding significant potential for leakage.  Distant from large CO2 sources.
Baffin and Labrador	10	Immature sedimentary basin that is still being explored, production of developed pools still in early stages.  Remote and far from CO2 sources very costly to build transportation and injection infrastructure in the region.
Pacific	11	Located in tectonically active area along subduction zone.  Significant potential for slow or catastrophic leakage.

As already noted, the WCSB is considered a world class site for geological storage, and as a result a considerable effort is underway to conduct detailed regional characterizations and assessments of the basin. Overall, the estimated storage capacity within the 25 777 gas reservoirs and 9149 oil reservoirs producing in the WCSB is 8557 MtCO₂e and 853 MtCO₂e respectively, with 639 MtCO₂e of capacity in CO₂-EOR opportunities alone (Bachu and Shaw, 2005). If only projects with a capacity for 1 MtCO₂e or more at a depth of between 900 and 3500 m are considered (which narrows the list to the most economic prospects and those likely to be pursued over the next three decades), then the practical storage capacity drops to 3200 MtCO₂e and 562 MtCO₂e respectively, of which 450 MtCO₂e of capacity would be EOR related (Bachu and Shaw, 2005). Of the eligible storage capacity in oil and gas reservoirs in the WCSB, 2822 Mt are located in Alberta, 800 MtCO₂e in north eastern British Columbia, 118 MtCO₂e in Saskatchewan, and 1 MtCO₂e in Manitoba (Bachu and Shaw, 2005). Note that all of these numbers (and the numbers below) are currently under revision, but the orders of magnitude are representative.

Other sites also hold promise for storage in Canada. One estimate for coal bed storage capacity is 2000 MtCO₂e. Aquifer capacity in Canada is considered to be some 100 times greater than the previous estimates for oil and gas reservoirs in the WCSB. In other words, storage capacity is not a limiting factor on CCS development in Canada. What does limit overall storage opportunities in Canada is the location of many storage sites. Although the WCSB is well situated for industrial emissions sources in Alberta, Saskatchewan and parts of British Columbia, Ontario has fewer storage options for its large industrial emitters.

The first applications for CO₂ storage will likely be value-added opportunities such as CO₂-EOR or CO₂-ECBM. In fact, approximately 2 MtCO₂e is already being stored annually in the WCSB in CO₂-EOR projects (IEA, 2004). Another 1 Mt annually is being stored as a co-benefit of acid gas injection processes in the WCSB (IEA, 2004). Several other CO₂-EOR projects could reasonably begin injecting CO₂ prior to 2015 with great potential for large-scale CO₂ storage (perhaps up to 40 Mt) by 2030. If CO₂-ECBM recovery is proven commercial in the WCSB, coal beds may also be used to store CO₂ in the period from 2015 to 2030.

If the estimated potential capacity in the WCSB (the 3762 MtCO₂e noted previously) were to be realized, it would represent nearly 100 years of compliance for LFE companies assuming their 39Mt annual emissions reduction target in Project Green (Government of Canada, 2005). For fossil fuel companies in the WCSB, CCS may provide major economic benefits while reducing CO₂ emissions on a large scale.

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Sources

The main CO₂ capture opportunities in Canada are large industrial facilities that use fossil fuels (and to a much lesser extent, biomass) as part of their manufacturing or industrial processes. Although these operations exist across Canada, the concentrated clusters in the WCSB are the first to consider because capture only makes economic sense if commercial storage is available. As indicated in Table 10, these WCSB facilities include power plants, oil sands facilities, refineries and upgraders, petrochemical and fertilizer plants, gas processing plants and pipelines, cement or lime facilities, and pulp mills. Table 10 indicates the percentage share of each sector in terms of total LFE emissions in the WCSB. Thermal electricity (including coal and gas-fired generation) accounts for 49 percent of these emissions. Upstream and downstream oil and gas together account for another 35 percent. Many of the other facilities illustrated in the table are located in the WCSB because of the availability of affordable fossil fuels for energy and/or feedstock.

Along with the total volume of available CO₂ emissions for capture, the purity of the source also influences capture cost. Many industrial flue gas streams have CO₂ concentrations below 20 percent (see Table 11), and the cost of capturing these relatively dilute streams is very high. The lowest cost sources to capture are the high purity industrial sites which include hydrogen production facilities, ammonia plants, natural gas separation facilities, and ethane and ethylene oxide facilities. CO₂ concentrations of the exit gases in these sites can run over 90 percent which makes for very low capture costs, because there is often no need for separation processes. Industrial sources with these highly concentrated emissions include the oil sands facilities, natural gas plants and ammonia plants.

Table 10: WCSB Sources of CO₂ and Concentrations

Distribution of CO2 emissions by industry	Percentage
Source: Barry and Gupta, 2005
Coal Fired Power	43%
Oil Sands and In Situ	19%
Petrochemicals / Fertilizers	10%
Gas Processing / Pipelines	9%
Refining / Upgrading	7%
Gas Fired Power	6%
Pulp Mills	5%
Cement / Lime	1%

Table 11: WCSB Sources of CO₂ and Concentrations

CO2 concentration of emissions streams	Percentage
Source: Barry and Gupta, 2005
75%	10% CO2
3%	20–50% CO2
2%	Greater than 50% CO2
20%	Less than 10% CO2

Figure 8 illustrates the location of the major CO₂ emissions sources within the WCSB, along with the general geological suitability for CO₂ storage in a number of basin sub-regions. Many CO₂ source opportunities are reasonably close to good storage sites in the WCSB, which reduces the cost of transportation. It is this combination of good source opportunities located alongside good storage sites which makes the WCSB the best opportunity for beginning to develop a CCS industry in Canada today. In many ways, this combination sets Canada apart from other nations and therefore describes the Canadian advantage in developing a domestic CCS infrastructure and systems.

One study has estimated the potential volume of CO₂ supply from high concentration sources in three WCSB locations to be 9300 t/d (or nearly 3.4 Mt annually) (see Table 12). The Pragmatic Business Solutions Initiative, co-sponsored by the Alberta Department of Energy and the Alberta Chamber of Resources (ACR), identified these same three locations in an assessment of potential emissions hubs — places where significant emissions sources are clustered together and could be economically captured using a CO₂ gathering system. The concept of emissions hubs originates from the need to aggregate emissions from a number of sources in a given region; much like natural gas hubs operate today (the concept of emissions hubs is discussed in detail in Technology Pathways).

Table 12: CO₂ Supply Estimates from Three Locations

Location	CO2 Supply (t/d)	Industrial Source
Source: Luhning et al., 2005
Fort McMurray	5500	Hydrogen Plants
Fort Saskatchewan	2500	Ethylene oxide and urea plants
Red Deer-Joffre	1300	Ethane, ethylene oxide and ethanol plants

Many more emissions could be captured if cost-effective clean coal and CCS technologies were developed and deployed in Canada. In the meantime, the top prospects for capturing CO₂ in Canada today are the niche opportunities noted previously, the oil sands, fertilizer, ethanol and ethylene oxide plants. As well, any new infrastructure developed in these and other regions could be built to be CO₂ capture-ready for a future day when a fully commercial CCS industry is thriving. A range of estimates indicate that between 10 and 100 MtCO₂e could be captured from a variety of industrial sources and stored annually in the WCSB (over the coming decades) if Canada aggressively pursues this important technology opportunity.

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Value of Low-Emissions Fossil Fuels

The most valuable outcome of developing CCS technology and knowledge in Canada is that it will enable the development of low-emissions fossil fuel industries in Canada that will lead the world. Canada could become an example of how to tackle the issue of climate change while continuing to increase the value of its fossil fuel resource base, all the while developing and commercializing technology for the world to use.

The wide-scale use of CCS would contribute enormously to climate change mitigation while maintaining energy self-sufficiency (and therefore energy security), and allowing for the continued export of fossil fuels. By aggressively pursuing CCS technology development, Canada will ensure a continued role for its energy and petrochemical sectors. Using CO₂ for EOR, ENGR and ECBM would increase recoverable hydrocarbon reserves and help generate more energy-related revenue for Canada.

Using CO₂ capture technologies in a number of emissions hubs, which would then be linked via a CO₂ pipeline to storage sites, could form the base infrastructure for de-carbonising Canadian industry. Additional investments in CCS could result in a step-wise transformation to a new energy future based on hydrogen or clean electricity as the energy carriers. In this light, CCS can be seen as a foundation-building technology that allows for the production and use of Canada's world class fossil fuel resources in an environmentally responsible manner, while also enabling transformational change for tomorrow's energy economy.

To ensure the long-term outcome of economic growth along with emissions reductions, many Canadian organizations have emerged as CCS technology leaders. In addition to the programs already noted, several studies are being led by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board and the British Columbia Ministry of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources (BC MEMPR) to better understand the suitability of Canada's sedimentary basins for CO₂ storage. The CANMET CO₂ Consortium is working on several technologies including oxygen/CO₂ recycle combustion, integrated CO₂ purification and multi-pollutant capture systems at CETC-O. The International Test Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture (ITC) in Saskatchewan is working on capture techniques at its demonstration plant, which is attached to a commercial coal-fired generation plant. The Canadian Clean Power Coalition (CCPC) is an association of coal-fired electricity producers working to build the first full-scale clean coal facility (likely using gasification technology) in Canada. These efforts can and should be maintained by making the appropriate investments to make it happen. Industry, government and other stakeholders can work collaboratively to address the technical, economic and policy barriers facing CCS technology today, through targeted research and development (R&D) and technology deployment, and by developing supportive and appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks to enable a viable and robust CCS industry at home.

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Section Summary

Developing new CCS knowledge and technology is a value-added opportunity worth pursuing. CCS offers the option of mitigating GHG emissions from the use of fossil fuels, thus tackling climate change from a progressively new angle. Much of the technology and expertise can be developed at home with the opportunity of transferring it to international markets. The technology will help increase domestic energy reserves by improving the recovery of what is already known to be in place. In the end, the development of CCS technology will provide economic, environmental and societal benefits to all Canadians.

A number of international activities are underway to develop CCS technology and knowhow, including those under the IPCC, IEA and CSLF. Their research to date indicates that the total global capacity for CO₂ storage is somewhere between 1700 and 11 000 GtCO₂e. Often these storage sites coincide with excellent CO₂ source opportunities. Of the 8049 facilities worldwide that each emit greater than 100 ktCO₂e/yr, 500 projects have been identified as having good potential for both capture and storage. Initial infrastructure and systems will be built around these first projects, and will be added to as subsequent stages of development are undertaken.

Domestically, CCS opportunities exist in many regions with concentrations of CO₂ sources in the Prairies, Ontario and the Maritimes, with opportunities for storage also in some of these regions. It is estimated that 3762 MtCO₂e of practical capacity exists in the oil and gas reservoirs of WCSB today. This basin is the focal point for initializing a Canadian CCS industry because of opportunities to enhance hydrocarbon recovery (with approximately 450 Mt of CO₂-EOR capacity available today), and the number of large CO₂ sources that exist (including coal-fired facilities, oil sands plants and other fossil fuel industries). Almost 3.4 MtCO₂e/yr could be economically captured in the WCSB today, with many more megatonnes available if appropriate policies emerge for dealing with CO₂ emissions. Building CCS infrastructure in existing niche opportunities and in new industrial facilities, could be the start of rolling out CCS infrastructure and systems in Canada.

Agressively pursuing the development of CCS technology would provide a variety of benefits to Canada. The biggest opportunity is the enabling of low-emissions Canadian fossil fuel industries, which would ensure a future role for the energy and petrochemical sectors in Canada. Enhanced hydrocarbon recovery would increase the value of known reserves. Capturing CO₂ emissions and storing them underground would provide a global environmental benefit. New technology and infrastructure would help diversify the economy and help transform Canadian society into one that is highly advanced and leading edge.

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