Oil major ExxonMobil has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indonesian state-owned company Pertamina to assess the potential for large-scale deployment of low-carbon technologies in Indonesia.
ExxonMobil and Pertamina reached an agreement to identify and evaluate potential subsurface CO2 storage locations and examine the feasibility of transporting CO2 in Southeast Asia.
This collaboration is expected to include research and development studies with universities.
The MoU was signed near Glasgow, Scotland, where world leaders have gathered to discuss climate policies during COP26.
Joe Blommaert, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, commented: “We are evaluating large-scale carbon capture and storage projects that have the potential to make the greatest impact in the highest-emitting sectors around the world, and there are opportunities in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia.”
ExxonMobil and Pertamina have agreed to assess the potential for technologies such as carbon capture, utilization and storage, and low-carbon hydrogen. The companies expect to identify geologic formations deep underground that could be suitable to safely store CO2, and the potential for safe, commercially viable utilization of CO2 by jointly examining subsurface data.
This agreement strengthens a decades-long strategic partnership between the two companies. Its objective is to advance Indonesia’s net-zero ambitions.
“With well-designed policies and industry collaboration, we can move forward with reliable, safe and ready-to-deploy technologies at a scale that can help governments achieve game-changing emissions reductions,” added Blommaert.
Furthermore, ExxonMobil established its Low Carbon Solutions business earlier this year to commercialize low-emission technologies. The firm is initially focusing its carbon capture and storage efforts on point-source emissions.
The process involves capturing CO2 from industrial activity that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere and injecting it into deep underground geologic formations for safe, secure and permanent storage.
“The company is also pursuing strategic investments in biofuels and hydrogen to bring those lower-emissions energy technologies to scale for hard-to-decarbonize sectors of the global economy.
The new business is evaluating several other carbon capture and storage projects around the world. This includes its evaluating efforts in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Normandy, France, Wyoming and a world-scale carbon capture and storage hub concept in Houston, Texas.
ExxonMobil has an equity share in approximately one-fifth of global CO2 capture capacity and has captured approximately 40 percent of all the captured anthropogenic CO2 in the world.
Projections by the International Energy Agency show that carbon capture and storage could mitigate up to 15 per cent of global emissions by 2040. The estimates done by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change outline global decarbonization efforts could be twice as costly without its wide-scale deployment.
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