Carbon Capture, or a process of geological confinement of the carbon dioxide produced by large combustion plants.
A technology that is becoming part of the strategies available to cope with the increasing concentration in the atmosphere of carbon dioxide of anthropogenic origin or a greenhouse gas that contributes to the current global warming.
It is news these days that European leaders have reached an agreement on the text on the fight against climate change. The decision is to cut emissions by at least 55% by 2030.
Green Deal then, and in Italy on Carbon Capture things have been moving for some time.
After all, 2020 has left a profound mark on the oil industry and has directed it towards a cleaner but less profitable path.
In this scenario, Carbon Capture is already an integral part of this change.
Through the statements of Claudio Descalzi, Bernard Looney and Patrick Pouyanné we learn that “ENI is changing its face in a radical and irreversible way” and that BP claims to be directed “towards zero emissions and there is no turning back” closing with Total which wants to transform ” to face a double challenge: more energy and less carbon ”.
As regards Carbon Capture in particular, at the beginning of October the British Oil and Gas Authority awarded ENI the license for the construction in Anglo-Saxon territory of a carbon dioxide capture and storage project.
The capture generally takes place from industrial processes, but also from the atmosphere. Carbon Capture is not a simple process as CO2 must not only be “taken” but also separated from other emissions and once captured it can be transported through old redeveloped gas pipelines to be finally stored in underground sites or within rock formations or even in exhausted deposits.
To make Carbon Capture an obligatory strategic choice is oil itself on the one hand and the new regulations of the Green Deal on the other.
For oil, there is always the unknown factor linked to demand and the post-Covid recovery, on the other hand it is Europe that asks for it to be compact and it is certainly a challenge that should not be underestimated.
