Novatek eyes potential CO2 storage sites in Russia
Russia's Novatek is seeking to certify potential CO2 storage sites in Russia's far north in line with international standards, the company announced on February 3.
The gas producer has cleared the first of three stages for international certification of the sites, situated on the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas where the company's LNG operations are located. Norwegian classification society DNV has issued initial certificates on their suitability for the task.
The sites are at the Obsky and Tadebyayakhinsky licence areas, and could store as much as 600mn metric tons of CO2, Novatek said. That estimate was made by Novatek with the help of international service companies, and verified by DNV.
Russian gas producers have scaled up their sustainability targets over the past two years to address growing climate concerns and improve their environmental social and governance (ESG) scores. Its latest sustainability report includes targets for a 6% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from upstream operations and a 5% cut in emissions from its LNG business by 2030.
“Having certified CO2 geological storage sites is an important element of the company's strategy to decarbonise production clusters for LNG and low-carbon gas chemicals”, company chairman Leonid Mikhelson commented. “The large potential of the certified CO2 storage sites allows both capturing and storing CO2 generated at our own production facilities, and offering CO2 underground storage services to third parties."
The pre-FEED stage for CO2 capture and treatment on Yamal is underway, he said, which is a project that would help bring down emissions from the company's existing and prospective LNG and gas chemical projects.