MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canada's Pembina Pipeline Corp is asking backers of two competing proposals for carbon capture hubs in the oil-producing province of Alberta to combine efforts with its own plan, reported Reuters with reference to the company's chief executive's statement on Tuesday.
Pembina and TC Energy Corp said in June they were looking to develop a system to transport and sequester carbon. The Alberta government, which controls underground space for burying carbon, called for expressions of interest this autumn.
Carbon capture facilities are expected to be a key part of global efforts to contain emissions from fossil fuel production. Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and aims to cut national greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030.
The Pembina-TC plan, called Alberta Carbon Grid, faces competition from at least two others - Oil Sands Pathways, pitched by the largest oil sands producers, and Polaris, a proposal by Royal Dutch Shell.
Pembina has spoken with both groups about joining together and talks remain active, CEO Mick Dilger told Reuters.
"A single, large carbon capture program at scale is by far the most sensible way to do things," Dilger said. "If everybody works together, we'll come up with a more cost-effective solution."
Whether such cooperation happens remains to be seen, Dilger said.
Pembina and TC would need to convince Shell and the Pathways partnership of Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil, Suncor Energy and MEG Energy, of a change in concept, he said.
Pembina and TC proposed a plan that would make use of spare pipelines that they own to reduce costs. The other proposals rely more on new infrastructure, Dilger said.
As MRC wrote previously, Canadian midstream energy companies Pembina Pipeline and Inter Pipeline (IPL) are mulling the prospects of dehydrogenation/polypropylene (PDH/PP) production in Alberta province. On May 31, 2021, Pembina and Inter Pipeline entered into an agreement to create one of the largest and best positioned energy infrastructure companies in Canada. Together the companies' diversified and integrated asset base can support and grow an extensive value chain for natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil, from wellhead to end user, that far exceeds anything either company can do separately.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
Pembina Pipeline has been a gas supplier to the North American power system for over 60 years. Pembina owns and operates pipelines that transport a variety of hydrocarbon fluids, including conventional and synthetic crude oil and others, produced in Western Canada and North Dakota.
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