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Always had a soft spot for Don after he parachuted into our riding and did a big renovation on the kid's school.
The Edmonton Journal - Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Duncan Thorne
EDMONTON - The way former premier Don Getty sees it, his company's plan for 250 greenhouse-gas-storing salt caverns will be huge.
That's what people in Two Hills fear.
Others suggest his proposal to bury 113 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, captured from oilsands production, won't happen soon.
Getty's Edmonton company, Capital Reserve Canada Ltd., says it's ready to go this spring. But it has yet to seek government approval, and it's unclear how it will get hold of all that CO2.
Regardless, folks in Two Hills, 110 kilometres east of Edmonton, are taking the company's announcements seriously.
Getty, premier from 1985 to 1992, is company chairman. Now 74, he has said that in 2006 CRC bought mineral rights to 2,500 acres -- about 10 square kilometres -- and an adjacent site that comes with a high-volume water diversion permit and a pumping station on the North Saskatchewan River.
There are four existing salt caverns at one of the sites, created by a former owner while creating brine for chemical production.
CRC held a meeting with Two Hills residents last November to discuss its plans, although residents and county officials say it provided few details.
Getty announced to investors in March that the company had completed a development strategy. CRC said it "expects moving forward this spring to begin the construction of 250 salt caverns and the infrastructure to support the storage capacity of up to 125 million tons (about 113 million tonnes) of CO2."
The announcement added: "This has the potential to be the largest project of its kind in North America."
CRC said the construction would happen over four years. Filling the caverns with CO2, from oilsands production, would possibly start after two years.
Investment announcements from small companies generally don't reach the broader public. But people in Two Hills have monitored CRC's communications ever since they noticed activity at the site last fall.
"People are really starting to get concerned," resident Amil Shapka said.
Shapka, who held a meeting with other residents this month, said concerns include the fear that an accident or natural disaster could spew CO2 from a cavern, asphyxiating people. More than 1,700 died from CO2 that erupted from a lake in Cameroon in 1984.
"The volumes of CO2 there were small compared to what they're talking about here," said Shapka, a dentist.
Robert Jorgensen, chief administrator for the County of Two Hills, said CRC has told the county little about its plans. "Everybody's speculating but we don't know any more than the government."
CRC must apply first to the Energy Resources Conservation Board. If the ERCB accepts it, the plan would need the OK from Alberta Environment officials and final approval from Environment Minister Rob Renner. At each stage there is "an extraordinary level of scrutiny, so this
isn't an overnight project," said Darin Barter, speaking for the ERCB.
In a document filed in 2007 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, CRC said it applied to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, as the ERCB was then known, for permission to start work on the site.
But company president Steve Claussen said he has yet to file an ERCB application. Claussen told The Journal that CRC's securities declaration dates from before he took charge. He said he is trying to find out why it mentions an EUB application.
Barter said if CRC applies and local residents object, there will be a public hearing. He added: "We have salt caverns up near Fort Saskatchewan, and they've taken years to get to the point where they're actually functioning."
Stefan Bachu, a senior ERCB scientist and renowned expert on CO2 storage, said salt caverns have advantages over pumping the greenhouse gas into the porous rock of disused oil and gas formations, as caverns are easier to fill. But while an accidental leak is unlikely, it could happen more quickly from a cavern, and becomes more of a concern long after the cavern is abandoned.
David Keith, also an international expert in the field, agreed caverns can provide safe storage -- but not as safe as in saline and oil and gas formations, where CO2 can't leak out fast in the event of a disaster.
The Alberta Research Council and ARC Resources has chosen an oil formation northeast of Edmonton, the Redwater geological reef, to eventually store a billion tonnes of CO2 or more.
"In a salt cavern, you've actually stored the carbon dioxide in a high pressure vessel," Keith, who led a Nobel Prize-winning study on global warming with Bachu, said from the University of Calgary. "It's important to say that salt caverns are way down the list of things we'd really do for storage."
He added there is no system in place for collecting CO2 from the oilsands, and no pipeline for shipping it to Two Hills.
There's also the matter of whether CRC can pull together such a big project.
The company's most recent, 2006, financial report on file at the SEC includes an auditor's caution about "substantial doubt" the company is healthy enough to remain a going concern. It then had eight employees.
The shares, which trade thinly in the U.S. among brokers and not on a stock exchange, sold above $1 in 2006. They closed Tuesday at two cents.
The SEC file indicates Getty receives no payment as chairman but owned 2.4 per cent of the company as of last May. The company handed him part of his holdings to settle a $25,000 US debt.
Getty could not be reached for comment but Claussen, the CRC president, said by e-mail the company is committed to infrastructure development at Two Hills "over the next four years."
Claussen said the plans include a pilot project to convert CO2 into gasoline and other fuels.
He did not explain the process but research labs have converted CO2 into oxygen and carbon monoxide, an ingredient used in making synthetic fuels.
The company is doing the final work on a development strategy for Two Hills and will apply to the ERCB and other regulators as required, Claussen said.
CRC subsidiary Two Hills Environmental "is exploring co-ordination opportunities with industry and government," he said.
Despite reported financial concerns, Claussen indicated CRC can handle the project, which he valued at $150 million. "... the company has been inundated with opportunities to meet our funding requirements both in Alberta, Canada and internationally."
yup thats him stock in 2006 was over a buk
Good point
That's our old Don eh?
Getty punt? I thought he was a quarterback? :)
seems that way but i guess the market is not focused on this yet either.
for a gamble CRSVF might be worth a punt on Getty
I put it on watch
Tough to find anything to play in this area
i guess it is now it was over 1.00
That's a 2 cent stock!!!!!!!!
Capital Reserve Canada Approves the Construction of 250 Salt Caverns and the Infrastructure to Support Storage of 125 Million Tons of CO2
2008-03-19 18:00 ET - News Release
EDMONTON, Alberta -- (Business Wire)
Capital Reserve Canada Ltd. (OTCBB:CRSVF) (“The Company”) Chairman, Mr. Donald R. Getty and CEO and President Mr. Steve Claussen announced today the completion of the development strategy of its Two Hills Environmental Ltd site in Two Hills Alberta and in addition, the appointment of Mark Glaser to the Board of Directors.
The Two Hills site is ideally located halfway between Edmonton, Alberta and Fort McMurray, Alberta. In 2006, the Company acquired mineral rights to approximately 2,000 acres of adjacent land. The site also contains a high-volume water pumping facility with an invaluable water diversion permit.
The Board of Directors has approved the development strategy of the Two Hills Environmental site and expects moving forward this spring to begin the construction of 250 salt caverns and the infrastructure to support the storage capacity of up to 125 million tons of CO2. This has the potential to be the largest project of its kind in North America. This phase of development will be completed over a four year period. The process of filling of caverns may begin at the two year mark.
“The approved infrastructure development will provide a safe storage solution for substantially reducing the environmental impact of CO2 associated with the mining process of bitumen including CO2 produced from the tar sands at Fort McMurray. In addition, we are evaluating a number of new technology opportunities for consuming CO2. This will also allow storage capacities to be reused year after year,” stated Mr. Claussen. “The industry certainly has environmental obligations and the Two Hills Environmental project will help ensure Alberta meets these obligations in short order and for the long term,” said Mr. Claussen.
Capital Reserve Canada Ltd would also like to welcome Mr. Mark Glaser P. Eng. to the Board of Directors. Mr. Glaser is a Professional Engineer with 25 years of oil and gas industry experience. He is currently the Vice President and COO of Newcast Energy Corp, a private oil and gas company with operations in Alberta. Mr. Glaser was previously the COO of Enco Gas, Ltd., a private oil and gas company. He managed the company for over five years until it was sold in March 2007. Prior to joining Enco, Mark was the Exploitation Manager of Calpine Canada which experienced dramatic growth mainly through acquisitions. From 1986 to 1999, Mark was employed at Poco Petroleums Ltd. in various positions and finished as Senior Exploitation Engineer working areas from Saskatchewan to Edson. Mark’s strengths are exemplified by his extensive broad experience in the oil and gas industry which he plans to apply to deliver results to the shareholders of Capital Reserve Canada Ltd. by exploring, identifying, investing in and executing strategies to fully explore asset potential.
The Company has also accepted the resignation of Ken Pearson from the Board of Directors. Mr. Pearson will remain the President and CEO of KCP Innovative Services Ltd a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capital Reserve Canada Ltd. The Company would like to thank Mr. Pearson for his contributions to the Board.
Profile
CRC is an oil and gas services company based in Edmonton, Alberta. Through their wholly owned subsidiary, KCP Innovative Services, Inc., the Company offers technologically advanced tools for use in four areas of the industry. The first aids in testing and development of newly found resources; another measures existing wells’ productivity and the third hastens well abandonment, ensuring compliance with regulatory emission guidelines. The fourth, through its proprietary hardware and software technologies, is used to determine the profitability of coal bed methane deposits, which may be developed and sold as natural gas. The Company has a second wholly owned subsidiary, Two Hills Environmental, to assist with the storage CO2 and provide underground storage for problem waste from oil & gas companies.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release regarding the company’s business that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. The company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements and as such, speak only as of the date made. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those discussed in the Company’s latest 20-F dated June 21st, 2007.
Contacts:
Capital Reserve Canada Ltd.
Investor Relations, 780-428-6026
crsvf@telus.net
http://www.capitalreservecanada.com
or
Behral Canada Inc. Website
www.behral.com
Source: Capital Reserve Canada Ltd.
CRSVF - CAPITAL RESERVE CANADA LTD A
Ex-premier Getty plans CO2 storage project
Edmonton Journal
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The way former Alberta premier Don Getty sees it, his company's plan for 250 greenhouse-gas-storing salt caverns will be huge.
Others suggest his proposal to bury 113 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, captured from oilsands production, won't happen soon.
Getty's Edmonton company, Capital Reserve Canada Ltd., says it's ready to go this spring. But it has yet to seek government approval, and it's unclear how it will get hold of all that carbon dioxide.
Regardless, folks in Two Hills, 110 kilometres east of Edmonton, are taking the company's announcements seriously. Getty, premier from 1985 to 1992, is company chairman. Now 74, he said in 2006 Capital Reserve bought mineral rights to about 10 square kilometres and an adjacent sit with a high-volume water diversion permit and a pumping station on the North Saskatchewan River. There are four salt caverns at one of the sites.
Getty announced to investors in March the company had completed a development strategy. CRC said it "expects moving forward this spring to begin the construction of 250 salt caverns and the infrastructure to support the storage capacity of up to 125 million tons (about 113 million tonnes) of CO2."
CRC said the construction would happen over four years. The process of filling the caverns with CO2 from oilsands production would possibly start after two years.
© The Calgary Herald 2008
Alberta's energy future
Anthony Kovats Thursday April 17, 2008
Who could have thought that a possible solution to our prolific carbon footprint could be tackled by something as small as, and as seemingly unexciting as, alga?
And yet, for Olds College director and scientific leader Dr. Abimbola Abiola, the tiny organism has the potential to capture carbon dioxide, literally feeding the gas to CO2 hungry alga and allowing the organism to create value-added byproducts.
Abiola, guest speaker at the Leduc Nisku EDA’s regular breakfast meeting in New Sarepta March 18, spoke to the growing urgency of dealing with a looming energy crisis, the need to enhance biodiesel applications and quality if only on a small scale, and to look at alternatives for reducing our growing carbon footprint including the feeding and cultivation of algae. The college’s advanced research team is even exploring the possibilities of biopesticides in its state-of-the-art 1,800-square-metre greenhouse that serves not only as a classroom, but also as a research centre.
Of course, the forever-interlinked issue of the environment and energy are foremost for the college as Abiola said it moves forward with innovative ways to make biodiesel products more effective, especially in cold climates, and to reduce its production dependency on food stuffs.
Abiola said the reality is we’re thirsty for fuel. Thirsty for an energy source that can drive our advancing infrastructure and as energy prices continue to skyrocket the need to improve alternative energy sources like biofuel has never been more pressing.
“We believe that, maybe sooner than we think, it is the way we are going. The purpose of biodiesel is to create a clean alternative fuel and we can use it for transportation, generating electricity and heating and little or no modifications are required,” Abiola said.
He said the college has been exploring integrated storage and blending and dispensing systems which are designed to address some of the cold-flow challenges associated with biodiesel. The system allows for the storage store and blending biodiesel with regular diesel year-round for use in fleet vehicles and school buses within the community of Olds.
As one of six schools in the Academic Division, the Olds College School of Innovation which Abiola heads, links faculty, students and research projects together. Biodiesel, which Abiola admitted has a limited application at this point, is just one of the exciting alternatives the school explores.
Another is algae.
Now, the concept isn’t new.
Several attempts have been tried over the years to develop algae bioreactor systems that can be attached to natural gas-fired or coal power plants with the idea being that CO2 emissions from these operations can be directed to an algae farms where the organisms gorge on the gas. They are then harvested and used to make alternative products like biodiesel, ethanol, some plastics and animal feed.
And intuitive leaps in this direction could greatly reduce the need for fossil fuels.
The problem is the process is expensive and if left unchecked in terms of harvesting, the fattened algae calf begins to die off. Another problem developing this technology suitable for this northern county is once again, our dropping temperatures.
However, in March the Tory minority government announced it would contribute $100,000 toward a project designing microalgae systems. Not a huge contribution, but at least it kick-starts some serious research. Members include the National Research Council, Abiola’s research centre at Olds College, and the University of Saskatchewan, just to name a few.
It's the first project under the newly created I-CAN Centre for the Conversion of Carbon Dioxide, and will be headed by government research groups from the three western provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan and Quebec.
Collectively, the group intends to build a commercial "photo bioreactor" within three years. If successful, an algae operation that absorbs CO2 and creates biodiesel as a byproduct, could have incredibly proactive benefits to an industry as complex as the Alberta tarsands.
“I believe we are going to the next generations of biodiesel technology and I also believe that in many of our projects we will be ahead.”
Making a case for the CO2 business
Alstom Power Systems smells opportunity in Alberta in reducing emissions
Shaun Polczer
Calgary Herald
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Philippe Joubert wants to make the business case for protecting the environment.
The head of Swiss-based Alstom Power Systems says reducing emissions is the next big business opportunity for a new breed of infrastructure player with the technology and sense of purpose to implement it.
As it turns out, Alberta with its booming economy, surging emissions profile and appropriate geology, is the perfect place to do it.
"We have traditionally been the world leader in emission control," he told the Herald in an exclusive interview. "And now we are going to the CO2, which is the next frontier." Alstom is a huge global conglomerate specializing in all aspects of power generation and end uses, including hydro, nuclear and high-speed trains.
Alstom executives were in Calgary this week to tour the oilsands and discuss plans for large-scale carbon capture and sequestration in Alberta.
Joubert, who had never been to Fort McMurray, said he was drawn by the huge opportunity the region represents. Prior to coming to Calgary, he admitted he was keenly interested in a television documentary that aired on French television last week.
After watching the show -- which focused on environmental issues -- Joubert apparently liked what he saw.
"They are seeing that as a huge opportunity. We are planning developments because of the oilsands," he said.
"They (oilsands operators) are obviously in need to solve the CO2 question and we are big actors of the CO2. This is where we will solve the problem." Joubert confirmed the company is in talks with at least one major oilsands developer to build a power plant capable of generating heat and steam while capturing carbon.
He was mum on details for a pilot project, such as how much it might cost.
If it goes ahead, it could be the first step to transforming a sector of the energy economy becoming increasingly known for "dirty oil" production.
Pierre Gauthier, Alstom's Canadian president and CEO, said the cogeneration facility would burn petroleum coke to produce electricity.
Excess heat would generate steam for oil production while carbon would be captured in the post-combustion phase and converted into a liquid under high pressure. From there it could be transported for industrial uses or injected into the ground.
Gauthier said the main advantage of the process is that it eliminates the need to burn expensive natural gas to make oil. "That would be the perfect power plant for the oilsands. Burning a waste fuel cleanly, that would make a whole lot of sense." Front-end engineering and design work has been completed and a field pilot could proceed later this year.
The project is the latest in a series of private sector and government initiatives to develop commercial-scale carbon capture and sequestration technologies in Canada. Both the provincial and federal governments have committed hundr eds of millions of dollars to reducing Alberta's emissions, which make up the fastest growing proportion of Canada's overall emissions profile.
Alberta is hoping new technology will account for more than 70 per cent of its mandated reductions over the next two decades.
Earlier this month, Alstom signed a deal with TransAlta Corp. to retrofit a coal-fired power plant west of Edmonton to capture greenhouse gas and store it underground using a patented chilled ammonia process.
In conjunction with the University of Calgary and the provincial government, the multimillion-dollar research project is expected to begin work this year, leading to implementation by 2012.
Where environmental protection was once considered an afterthought, reducing the impact of new projects has become the new cornerstone of industrial development.
Across the Atlantic, companies are viewing environmental protection as a key component of their social licence to operate.
In that sense, Joubert says Canada is catching up to European attitudes.
"I cannot have a meeting with a customer without talking environment," he says. "Now the business people have become very conscious of it. Now we spend 75 per cent of the meeting on environment and CO2." Public attitudes are also changing as well. "Many young people today see the environment as a social justice issue," says Lisa Jamieson, a lawyer with Gowlings in Calgary.
Environmental law is only just beginning to catch up with changes taking place in society. Gowlings expects the environment to become a priority as government legislates emissions reductions targets and the mechanisms for achieving them.
It's a whole area of law that is evolving rapidly and the issue of assigning rights and responsibilities is still an open book. For instance, who owns the CO2 once it is sequestered into the ground? The uncertainty surrounding these issues will have an impact on all aspects of the business, from gaining regulatory approvals to best practices and corporate finance, says Patricia Leeson, a partner with the firm's environmental practice.
Companies may find that they won't be able to raise money without appropriate steps to reduce the impacts of their operations.
Alstom's Joubert says it's important for governments to provide the legal framework to allow large-scale emissions reduction to happen. In that sense, the bureaucracy is merely catching up to the public.
"What we are expecting now from the government is the legal framework.
"This is all technically feasible, this is all economically viable. Without the legal framework, we cannot take the risk. We are not asking for anything else. All this needs to be clear.
spolczer@theherald.canwest.com
Time for Alberta to outspin the green spinmeisters
Simple carbon capture and storage system would turn weakness into an asset
Gary Lamphier
The Edmonton Journal
Thursday, April 17, 2008
EDMONTON - By and large, Albertans detest spin. Most of the time, what you see is what you get -- like it or loathe it.
Those who tell tall tales or embellish the truth -- "He's all hat and no cattle" -- are ridiculed as frauds, or made the butt of jokes.
Perhaps this is a reflection of Alberta's humble agrarian roots, embodied in a folksy premier who himself grew up on the farm, light-years away from the stuffy blue-blood culture of Rosedale or Westmount.
Or maybe it stems from Alberta's resource-based economy, where heavy lifting and plain talk infuse the business culture, and even high-priced CEOs like to get their boots dirty, if only on weekends.
I admire this propensity for telling it like it is. That's what my parents taught me, God bless 'em. Still, it's rare in a world where spin and political posturing increasingly dominate public discourse, and popular culture as a whole.
Unfortunately, this also leaves Alberta exposed. When it comes to spin, this province is being badly outspun by the green lobby and their accommodating media soulmates.
Result: Alberta's image is taking a hit. Too often, Alberta is simplistically portrayed as a backwater where knuckle-dragging cretins hooked on fossil fuels are willing to sacrifice the planet's future, all in the name of profit.
This is a one-dimensional caricature. A convenient distortion, peddled by those eager to push Alberta into a national carbon cap-and-trade system that would effectively suck billions of dollars out of Alberta's economy every year.
It doesn't matter that greenhouse gas emissions from the oilsands are a fraction of one per cent of the global tally. Nor does it matter that emissions growth in China -- the world's top producer of carbon dioxide -- is exponentially greater than anything Alberta will ever produce, now or 20 years from now.
Indeed, according to a new study done by the University of California, China adds one entire Canada worth of emissions to its total every year, or one Alberta oilsands worth of CO2 every few weeks.
Put simply, the future of the planet doesn't depend on Alberta. It never will, whether the Earth roasts or not. In planetary terms, we're puny.
But none of that matters. In the media spin game, Alberta is the Darth Vader of climate change. It's the black hat in a room of virtuous truth-tellers.
Barely a week goes by when Alberta isn't blasted in the national media as the source of all environmental evil. One Toronto scribe now labels Alberta an "international pariah," whose current targets -- which call for a modest 14-per-cent reduction in CO2 by 2050 -- leave it out of sync with the rest of the planet.
"Alberta, if it doesn't change direction, risks being isolated within North America, at economic cost to itself, to say nothing of suffering damage to reputation -- not from Ottawa but from the industrialized world," he argues.
Oh please. I guess he hasn't heard of China. Or maybe he doesn't consider the world's most rapidly industrializing nation part of the industrialized world.
Here's the thing. Emissions targets are easy to set, and easier to ignore. Governments of all kinds have been setting such targets for years (remember Kyoto?). None are ever met.
Talk is cheap. Especially when you're not going to be around by 2020 or 2050 to answer to the voters you're spinning today.
Whether you're a fan of Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach or not, or whether you regard his government's current targets as lame or not, one thing is clear. Stelmach himself is consistently underestimated.
He's also a guy with his feet on the ground. He's no dreamer. He's a hard-headed pragmatist who takes pride in calling his targets "achievable." That may not be great spin. But he says what me means.
Fact is, there is a simple, pragmatic way for Stelmach and his government to shut down its critics, and address the greenhouse gas issue head on.
By laying out a coherent, multi-year capital spending plan to build an integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS) system, Stelmach could effectively turn Alberta's Achilles heel into its biggest strength.
He could outspin the spinmeisters. And in the process, he could create an entire new industry engaged in tech commercialization and development. One with global export potential that could help diversify the Alberta economy.
Think about it. As Journal energy writer Gordon Jaremko has noted, all of Canada's annual greenhouse gas emissions -- and then some -- could be safely stored underground in the Redwater geological reef, northeast of Edmonton.
On Monday, Calgary-based ARC Resources and the Alberta Research Council unveiled a partnership under which some $500 million could eventually be spent to capture emissions from nearby industrial plants, and inject the CO2 into aging oil wells.
It's potentially a win-win proposition, and it's merely the latest in a string of industry-backed proposals to make CCS commercially viable in the years ahead.
It won't be easy. Plenty of technological challenges lie ahead. And it will cost big bucks. But so will inaction. And that's no spin.
glamphier@thejournal.canwest.com
Reef to hold year's worth of emissions
Site near Redwater could become permanent storage receptacle for a billion tonnes of CO2
Gordon Jaremko
The Edmonton Journal
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
EDMONTON - All Canada's greenhouse gas emissions for a year -- and then some -- can be stowed in a disposal site that a science and industry partnership Monday announced plans to develop.
ARC Resources Ltd. and the Alberta Research Council began work on using the Redwater geological reef northeast of Edmonton for permanent underground storage of one billion tonnes or more of carbon-dioxide.
The location is one of a kind in the world because a profitable oil project can do double duty as a start on a large-scale environmental cleanup, Bill Gunter, the council's chief carbon disposal scientist, said in an interview.
About $500 million could eventually be spent on harnessing carbon-dioxide emissions from nearby industrial plants as injections to keep aging Redwater wells flowing for years, ARC Resources president John Dielwart said.
As a 600-square-kilometre structure 250 metres thick from the Devonian geological era, when the Edmonton region was a tropical sea coast 350 million years ago, the Redwater reef was among the richest gushers of Alberta's 1950s oil boom.
Life-extending injections of liquefied carbon-dioxide have potential to revive the old field into pumping out 130 million to 180 million barrels of premium light oil at a rate of 10,000 to 15,000 barrels daily, Dielwart estimated.
After use the greenhouse gas is projected to stay in the reef's spongy remains under a hard rock cap about 1,000 metres below the ground surface that preserved the oil deposit for eons, said Gunter and research council carbon manager Brent Lakeman.
The partnership, named the Heartland Area Redwater Project or HARP for short after the industrial district northeast of Edmonton, starts with $1.8 million in research over the next year to confirm the size and suitability of the site.
A further two preliminary phases are planned, including a well and a pilot plant that will prove the system works, before ARC Resources embarks on a full-sized commercial project.
A development schedule and budget for the new venture in enhanced oil recovery, known in industry as EOR for short, will depend on research results and availability of carbon-dioxide from plants developing in the area, the company and the council said.
The partners predicted the Redwater reef could soak up all greenhouse gas emissions for 20 years by seven oilsands bitumen upgrader projects planned for more than $50 billion in the 320-square-kilometre Alberta Industrial Heartland district northeast of Edmonton.
The ARC Resources oil project would only begin developing the disposal site by using an upper corner of the giant Redwater reef, the partners said.
Initial estimates that the porous structure could absorb one billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide are conservative and liable to increase as further research and testing improve detailed knowledge of underground features, Lakeman and Gunter said.
Total national greenhouse gas output is currently about 750 million tonnes a year, show federal government records.
The 1997 Kyoto climate change treaty called for Canadian cuts to 563 million tonnes but emissions rose over the past 10 years as industry and population grew. Alberta leads the nation with annual emissions of 230 million tonnes.
Along with ARC Resources, financial supporters of the initial Redwater carbon storage studies include the Alberta Energy Research Institute and Natural Resources Canada. More companies will be invited to participate, Dielwart said.
But science and technology alone will not make the proposed disposal site happen, Lakeman said. "It requires the support of fiscal and regulatory frameworks," the council manager said.
Current talks on sharing costs of greenhouse-gas disposal between industry, Ottawa and Alberta appear to be going in the right direction, Dielwart said.
A $2-billion government fund for carbon capture and storage investments was recommended in February by a federal-provincial task force appointed by Premier Ed Stelmach and Prime Minister Stephen Harper a year earlier.
Upgrader sponsors are incorporating technical ability to add carbon-capture systems to their projects when the right combination of incentives and emissions regulation is enacted, said Neil Shelly, executive director of the Alberta Industrial Heartland Association.
The Redwater project has potential to make the Edmonton area's budding oilsands upgrader alley one of very few heavy industrial areas in the world able to comply with emerging controls on greenhouse gas emissions, Shelly said.
gjaremko@thejournal.canwest.com
© The Edmonton Journal 2008
.....Oilsands companies are also in the greenhouse gas business and have to "move the puck further along the ice" on environmental issues, Camarta said.
Petro-Canada recirculates 90 per cent of the fresh water it uses at the mines, and is working at moving that number higher, he said. They will also exclusively use municipal waste water at the Edmonton upgrader.
The new Edmonton hydrogen plant will produce pure, sequestration-ready carbon dioxide.
"If we can capture half the CO2, we can say we're not doing any more than when you import oil, and we have the jobs in Canada," he said..........
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=096c3afd-50e0-4743-993f-3f377b63c57d
As usual my focus, and hence the board's, will be on Canadian listed stocks.
I am not interested in any US OTC hype and will be ruthless in purging these posts.
ya sniffing early can prove rewarding down the road
Just looking around right now
Should have got into HTC back when Tackler first posted
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=26880932
Might wait a bit yet.They got warrants called to trade if it gets over 5 bills for 20 days
Been thinking about this for a while
Starting to poke around
CST - CO2 SOLUTIONS INC
you must be excited
Enbridge to Lead Industry Partners in Alberta Saline Aquifer Project
6 February 2008
Canada-based Enbridge Inc., a leading oil and natural gas pipeline and distribution company, will lead a group of 19 energy industry participants in the Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP). ASAP is a broad-based, industry-supported CO2 sequestration initiative that participants will roll out in three phases.
Phase 1 will involve identifying suitable locations for the long term sequestration of carbon dioxide in deep saline aquifers. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
Phase 2 will involve a pilot project during which sequestration sites will be designed to receive injected carbon dioxide. Phase 3 and subsequent phases will involve expanding the project to a large-scale, long-term commercial sequestration operation.
ASAP is the first project of its kind in Canada, and is intended to play a major role in advancing industry and government’s knowledge of carbon dioxide sequestration.
Sequestration is widely considered to be one of the most meaningful ways that Canada and Alberta can reduce overall emissions. This project is a significant stepping stone in that endeavor, and an excellent opportunity for industry members to collaborate in the effort to find climate change solutions that work.
—Patrick D. Daniel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Enbridge Inc.
The list of ASAP participants is:
* ATCO Power Canada Ltd.
* BP Canada Energy Company
* Chevron Canada Resources
* ConocoPhillips
* Enbridge Inc.
* EnCana
* EPCOR
* GreatPoint Energy Inc.
* Hatch Energy
* Laricina Energy Ltd.
* Norwest Corporation
* OPTI Canada Inc.
* Pembina Pipeline Corporation
* Penn West Energy Trust
* Praxair Canada Inc.
* Quadrise Canada Corporation
* Schlumberger Carbon Services
* TransCanada
* UTS Energy Corporation
As a transporter of energy, Enbridge operates, in Canada and the US, the world’s longest crude oil and liquids transportation system. The Company also has international operations and a growing involvement in the natural gas transmission and midstream businesses.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/02/enbridge-to-lea.html
Enhanced Oil Recovery
Penn West believes in the potential to gain new, long-life reserves and production by maximizing recoveries from known resources of large-scale, mature conventional light-oil pools. Beginning with a series of transactions in the late 90s, Penn West now holds major working interests in six of western Canada's 15 historical conventional light-oil fields, including the largest three.
Penn West intends to create value from these maturing pools through a combination of full development and optimization of secondary recovery (waterflood) schemes plus enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using CO2 as the miscible agent. Some pools could be amenable to absolute growth in daily production, while offsetting the annual production decline, and could extend the reserve life of other pools as they approach their conventionaleconomic limits.
Alongside its growing interests in long-life, light-oil fields, Penn West has actively worked to develop expertise in EOR techniques. The merger with Petrofund in 2006 provided working interests in the Weyburn field, Canada's largest commercial CO2 flood, and increased working interests in the Midale, Swan Hills Units and other Pembina Cardium units and fields.
In addition to enhanced oil recovery, CO2 floods present the environmental opportunity of permanently storing or "sequestering" greenhouse gases that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere. Penn West currenly believes that CO2 injected into commercial EOR projects would most likely be captured from the emissions stream of industrial plants, purified, compressed and shipped by pipeline for injection into EOR projects. As a result, Penn West believes it is well positioned to mitigate its risk against potential greenhouse gas emission legislation while creating economic value for its unitholders.
http://www.pennwest.com/operations/EnhancedOilRecovery.html
CO2 Miscible Flood/Sequestration
Apart from giving new life to an old field, the use of CO2 as an injection makes EnCana's Weyburn site the world's largest greenhouse gas sequestration project. From 2000 to 2004, the Weyburn project was the site of a world-scale research initiative operated under the auspices of the International Energy Agency, which studies the sequestration of CO2 in an oil reservoir. The study concluded that Weyburn is a suitable reservoir for long-term storage of CO2.
Under the right temperature, pressure and oil composition conditions, CO2 can act as a solvent, cleaning oil trapped in the microscopic pores of the reservoir rock. This miscible process greatly increases the recovery of oil from a reservoir compared to the recoveries normally seen by waterflooding. The Weyburn unit is an ideal candidate for CO2 flooding due to the following reasons:
* the waterflood has been very successful and provides confidence that the geology of the reservoir is likely suitable for CO2 flooding;
* the Weyburn oil swells with the addition of CO2 and has a large viscosity reduction factor;
* reduced spacing created by the existence of horizontal wells will make the CO2 process very efficient; and
* the reservoir pressure required for miscibility can be readily achieved at the reservoir temperature and with Weyburn oil.
http://www.encana.com/operations/canada/weyburn/P1166142222887.html
About ICO2N
ICO2N stands for Integrated CO2 Network, a proposed carbon capture and storage (CCS) system for Canada. The companies participating in the ICO2N carbon capture and storage initiative represent a cross-section of Canadian industry committed to helping Canada meet its climate change objectives while supporting economic growth.
Once constructed, this proposed Canadian CCS system will move carbon dioxide (CO2) captured from multiple industrial sites via pipeline to storage sites deep underground. Studies indicate the ICO2N carbon capture and storage proposal has the potential to reduce Canada's CO2 emissions by 20 million tonnes - the equivalent of annually removing four million cars from the road.
http://www.ico2n.com
ICO2N Participants
* Agrium Inc.
* Air Products Canada Inc.
* Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.
* Chevron Canada Ltd.
* ConocoPhillips Company
* EPCOR
* Husky Energy Inc.
* Imperial Oil Ltd.
* Keyera
* Nexen Inc.
* Opti Canada Inc.
* Shell Canada Energy
* Sherritt international Corporation
* StatoilHydro Canada Ltd.
* Suncor Energy Inc.
* Syncrude Canada Ltd.
* Total E&P Canada Ltd.
* TransAlta Corporation
SaskPower is developing one of the first and largest integrated clean coal/carbon capture demonstration projects in the world at Boundary Dam Power Station in Estevan, Saskatchewan. This is an excellent example of Saskatchewan and Canada's leadership in addressing the global challenge of climate change, and is the result of SaskPower's intensive research into clean coal technologies in recent years.
The $1.4 billion dollar government-industry partnership between the Government of Canada, the Government of Saskatchewan, SaskPower and private industry will demonstrate the technical, economic and environmental merits of carbon capture and sequestration technology.
The clean coal/carbon capture demonstration project will rebuild Boundary Dam Unit #3 with carbon capture technology, extending its life by approximately 30 years. It will fully integrate a coal-fired generation unit with carbon capture and an enhanced oil recovery operation, resulting in low-emission electricity and carbon dioxide for oil extraction.
When fully operational in 2015, the 100-megawatt demonstration project will capture approximately one million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, which represents a 7.6 per cent reduction in SaskPower's total carbon dioxide emissions from 2006 levels.
In the 2008 budget, the federal government committed $240 million in trust in support of the demonstration project. This funding was critical in moving the demonstration project forward. Private sector investment of approximately $400 million will be directed to the pipeline required to transport the captured carbon dioxide to the oilfields and the infrastructure required in the enhanced oil recovery process.
SaskPower's customers and key stakeholders will be fully engaged during each step of the multi-year work leading up to the commissioning of the demonstration project, with open and proactive communications.
http://www.saskpower.com/cleancoal/index.html
HTC Purenergy Inc (C-HTC) - News Release
HTC Purenergy, Bechtel to help build CO2 test centre
2008-03-18 07:21 MT - News Release
Shares issued 14,343,122
HTC Close 2008-03-17 C$ 3.96
Mr. Jeff Allison reports
REGINA-BASED HTC PURENERGY SIGNS AGREEMENT TO PARTICPATE IN THE EUROPEAN CO2 TEST CENTER (TCM) IN MONGSTAD, NORWAY
HTC Purenergy Inc. has signed an agreement with the European CO2 Test Centre Mongstad partners to deliver a front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the construction of a European CO2 test centre (TCM) at Mongstad, Norway. HTC has been awarded this contract in conjunction with its consortium partner, Bechtel Overseas Corp.
The TCM project is a joint collaboration between StatoilHydro, Shell, Vattenfall, Dong Energy and Gassnova (government of Norway) and is intended to demonstrate viable technology to be used in large-scale CO2 capture plants. The TCM project is scheduled to begin operations in 2010 and will position Norway as a global leader in environmental protection, including deploying solutions for postcombustion CO2 capture. The experience gained from this project is intended to be used to construct a large-scale, two-million-tonne-per-year CO2 capture facility at Mongstad.
"Norway is demonstrating through meaningful projects such as the European CO2 test centre that carbon capture and storage is an essential building block in mitigating the climate change effects of fossil fuel use," said Lionel Kambeitz, chief executive officer of HTC.
HTC Purenergy Inc (C-HTC) - In the News
NP says HTC may have clean coal solution
2008-03-28 07:25 MT - In the News
Shares issued 14,343,122
HTC Close 2008-03-27 C$ 4.06
The National Post reports in its Friday, March 28, edition that HTC Purenergy is "an energy technology company" whose business is "the development, aggregation and commercialization of proprietary technologies relating to carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, storage and hydrogen production utilizing CO2." The Post's Barry Critchley writes that Ottawa handed a cheque for $240-million to HTC as part of its commitment to help develop the world's first and largest commercial-scale carbon-capture and storage demonstration project. It will occur at Boundary Dam Power Station, and will require a $758-million contribution from SaskPower. "Proving this technology on a commercial scale is key to reducing Canada's greenhouse-gas emissions," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently. HTC chief executive officer Lionel Kambeitz says Mr. Harper told him, "I want to see some success here." If things work out and assuming HTC maintains its technology edge, it may be looking at the veritable pearl in the oyster, says Mr. Critchley. The reason: Coal is one of world's largest sources of electricity, but it is also one of the world's largest pollutants. "This is the answer to clean coal," Mr. Kambeitz said.
HTC
http://www.htcenergy.com/co2info.html
Nothing new in this part of the process
This is a contactor and stripper tower.
What I want to know is how they get the flue gas to the contactor?
January 5, 2006
Glencoe Begins CO2 Project In Alberta
Glencoe Resources Ltd. says the first phase of a carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery project has started operations in central Alberta.
The project will significantly increase recovery of oil from declining oil fields and reduce annual emissions of CO2 by about 220,000 tonnes, the equivalent to taking almost 50,000 cars off the road each year.
Glencoe, a Calgary-based private Canadian oil and gas company, said it has secured long-term supply agreements with MEGlobal Canada Inc. and NOVA Chemicals Corporation, to purchase CO2 that is currently being emitted from their petrochemical plants.
The first facility, adjacent to the MEGlobal plant at Prentiss has been constructed and commissioned and has started shipping CO2 by pipeline to Glencoe's oil fields. A second facility, adjacent to the NOVA Chemicals Joffre petrochemical complex is under construction and is scheduled to commence operations in early 2006.
"This is a very positive project that demonstrates how companies operating in Alberta can use existing technology in innovative ways to create long-term economic and environmental benefits," said Doug Geeraert, senior vice president, production for Glencoe, in a news release.
In addition to increasing oil recoveries and reducing emissions, the project extends the economic life of the oil reservoirs, contributes to local economies in rural Alberta and reduces the need to use water as an injection fluid.
Peter Ott, vice president, manufacturing for MEGlobal, says the project will reduce CO2 emissions at the Prentiss site by 25%. "Not only does this agreement make good business sense, but it aligns with MEGlobal's commitment to continuous improvement in environment and safety," Ott said.
Established in July 2004, MEGlobal is a joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company and Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait and is headquartered in London, England.
This has been an area of interest to me for quite some time.
I was involved in a CO2 capture and injection program at an ethylene facility.
The plant I am currently doing time in is expanding their CO2 capture program in an upcoming shutdown.
Something I found interesting was that the oil and gas company involved was buying the CO2 and incurring the piping costs.
With all the focus on greenhouse gases this technology is slowly coming to the forefront.
The targets being imposed on industry over the next decade will bring some serious investment into the field.
It should be immune to the impending recession (or even contribute to it).
As usual my focus, and hence the board's, will be on Canadian listed stocks.
I am not interested in any US OTC hype and will be ruthless in purging these posts.
This is not a political thread. This is not a global warming thread. This is not an Al Gore thread. I am not interested in your personal views on these subjects.
http://www.htcenergy.com/company.html
http://www.co2solution.com/a-index.html
http://www.alstom.com/home/
Links
http://www.ico2n.com/
http://www.co2captureproject.org/Phase1Index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_capture_and_storage
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