Jon Excell

Tore Amundsen: Chairman, CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad

In-Depth

Tore Amundsen’s efforts to put Norway at the forefront of the global CCS industry contain some valuable lessons for the UK, Stephen Harris reports

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Carbon capture and storage is already big business, but perhaps not for the reasons that many would hope. The market for improving oil extraction by pumping carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon reservoirs (known as enhanced oil recovery or EOR) was around $54.2bn (£34.4bn) in 2011 and growing rapidly, according to a report from SBI Energy.

This is the great irony of current CCS research: that a technology heralded as a means of saving the planet from climate change caused by burning fossil fuels is actually helping oil companies to get more of the stuff out of the ground. And despite what progress has been made – the world’s largest commercial facility and first to integrate fully with a coal-fired power plant is due to open in Canada next year – CCS has yet to gain the speed and success required to prove that it really can cut CO2 emissions at the levels needed and in a cost-effective way.

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