CNPC Targets Carbon Capture Hubs for EOR

After decades of trials and demonstrations, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) is now ready to push into the mega-ton league in carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) with the recent launch of a project in Ningxia. The Ningxia project will be China’s largest when fully completed, according to CNPC, with the capacity to capture and store up to 3 million tons of CO2 annually. However, it does not directly remove CO2 from CNPC’s own operations. The CO2 will be captured from another party — Ningxia Coal Industry Co. (NCI) which runs an emissions intensive coal-to-oil production facility near CNPC’s Changqing field in the Ordos Basin. Such coal/petrochemical sector activities generally produce streams of high-concentration CO2 that result in lower capture cost of under 200 yuan ($28) per ton, CNPC’s chief scientist for CCUS, Yuan Shiyi, said at a recent conference While the Ningxia project has no direct carbon cutting benefits for CNPC, the company is motivated by the supply of CO2 — which will be transported by pipeline and injected into Changqing for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The entire CCUS-EOR project is estimated to cost 10.2 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) over three phases, with NCI overseeing the carbon capture process while CNPC focuses on injection and EOR.