Shell to build carbon capture and storage projects in Canada
Oil giant Shell has announced the Final Investment Decision (FID) for Polaris, a carbon capture project at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park, Scotford in Alberta, Canada. Polaris is designed to capture approximately 650,000 tonnes of CO2 annually from the Shell-owned Scotford refinery and chemicals complex.
In addition to the Polaris FID, Shell today announced FID to proceed with the Atlas Carbon Storage Hub in partnership with ATCO EnPower. The first phase of Atlas will provide permanent underground storage for CO2 captured by the Polaris project.
“Carbon capture and storage is a key technology to achieve the Paris Agreement climate goals,” said Huibert Vigeveno, Shell’s Downstream, Renewable and Energy Solutions Director. “The Polaris and Atlas projects are important steps in reducing emissions from our own operations.”
Polaris and Atlas will build on the success of the Quest carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility at Scotford, which has safely captured and stored more than nine million tonnes of CO2 since 2015 that would otherwise have been released into the atmosphere.
Both projects are expected to begin operations toward the end of 2028.
Polaris (100% Shell-owned) will have the potential to reduce Scope 1 CO2 emissions at Shell’s Scotford refinery by capturing and storing up to 40% and by up to 22% at the chemicals complex.
Shell is a 50/50 partner with ATCO EnPower in the Atlas Carbon Storage Hub. The first phase of Atlas will provide permanent underground storage for CO2 captured by the Polaris project. A future phase of the Atlas Carbon Storage Hub, that could potentially store carbon for the partners and third parties, is subject to a future investment decision.·
CO2 emissions captured by Polaris will be sent to the Atlas Hub via an approximately 22-km pipeline to two storage wells. CO2 will be stored there approximately 2 km underground in the Basal Cambrian Sands, the same formation used to successfully store CO2 from the Quest CCS facility.
Polaris will leverage lessons learned from the Shell-operated Quest CCS facility (10% Shell-owned), located at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park, Scotford near Edmonton, Alberta, adjacent to Shell’s refinery and chemicals plant (100% Shell-owned). Since 2015, Quest has captured and stored about 1 million tonnes/year of CO2 from the Scotford upgrader.
As announced at Capital Markets Day in June 2023, Shell plans to invest US$10-$15 billion across 2023-2025 to support the development of low-carbon energy solutions including e-mobility, low-carbon fuels, renewable power generation, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage.
