During the previous week, the Japan Energy and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) selected nine carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects as “Advanced CCS Projects” for fiscal year 2024, which aim to start operations by 2030 as part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s effort to create a robust business environmentsh a horizontally deployable business model toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
The nine projects selected this time also aim to store a total of approximately 20 million tons of CO2 per year, with five of the projects planned for storage in Japan and the remaining four for storage in the Asia-Pacific region.
Location of selected projects and proposing companies. Source: Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
JOGMEC is now calling for applications for “design work, etc. related to advanced CCS projects,” which will involve design work for the entire CCS value chain and storage potential evaluation work, with the aim of reducing uncertainties related to CCS costs and underground storage, and has once again selected nine projects for which it will provide priority support. Through this project, it aims to secure an annual CO2 storage capacity of 6 to 12 million tons by 2030.
This follows the enactment of “Act on Carbon Dioxide Storage Business,” back in May 2024, which includes a permit system for storage projects, was enacted, marking a major step toward the commercialization of CCS in Japan.
The final investment decision by the operator is scheduled to be made by fiscal year 2026, with no new selection of advanced CCS projects expected from next fiscal year onwards. JOGMEC does however allow for special circumstances, such as a significant change in the domestic and international situation making it difficult to achieve the 2030 storage target.
In addition, support for CCS feasibility studies will continue to be considered. Furthermore, in order to continue to support exemplary projects towards a final investment decision, stage gates will be set according to the progress of the project, and a decision will be made at the end of each fiscal year on whether to continue the project.
Details about the nine selected projects can be found below.
1) Tomakomai Region CCS Project
Company Name | Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd., Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc. |
Storage Area | Tomakomai area (aquifer) |
Storage volume | Approximately 1.5 million to 2 million tons per year |
Emissions Source | Tomakomai area refineries, power plants |
Transportation method | pipeline |
Business Features | We will promote CCUS projects, including the connection of a CO2 transport pipeline to “CCU/carbon recycling,” which reuses CO2 as a resource, and “BECCS,” which combines biomass power generation and CCS. |
2) CCS project in the Tohoku region along the Sea of Japan coast
Company Name | Itochu Corporation, Nippon Steel Corporation, Pacific Cement Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., INPEX Corporation, Itochu Oil Exploration Co., Ltd., etc. |
Storage Area | Sea of Japan coast off the coast of Tohoku (marine aquifer) |
Storage volume | Approximately 1.5 to 1.9 million tons/year |
Emissions Source | Nippon Steel Corporation Kyushu Steel Works Oita District, DC Corporation Kawasaki Plant (Taiheiyo Cement Group), and local waste generators in the storage candidate area |
Transportation method | Ships and Pipelines |
Business Features | We will promote highly scalable, wide-area projects that connect multiple CO2 emission regions and CO2 storage regions via shipping, targeting industries where decarbonization is difficult to achieve, such as the steel and cement industries. |
3) Higashi-Niigata Region CCS Project
Company Name | Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd., Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co., Ltd., Hokuetsu Corporation |
Storage Area | Niigata Prefecture (existing oil and gas fields) |
Storage volume | Approximately 1.4 million tons/year |
Emissions Source | Chemical plants, paper mills, and power plants in Niigata Prefecture |
Transportation method | pipeline |
Business Features | Targeting the chemical, paper, electricity, etc. industries, we will promote businesses that utilize existing oil and gas fields, etc., aiming to create added value such as decarbonized fuels and environmental value. |
4) Metropolitan CCS Project
Company Name | INPEX Corporation, Nippon Steel Corporation, Kanto Natural Gas Development Co., Ltd. |
Storage Area | Offshore Boso, Chiba Prefecture (marine aquifer) |
Storage volume | Approximately 1.4 million tons/year |
Emissions Source | Nippon Steel Corporation’s East Japan Steel Works Kimitsu area and multiple industries in the Keiyo coastal industrial zone |
Transportation method | pipeline |
Business Features | We will promote a highly scalable business that includes a hub-and-cluster type CCS and large-capacity pipeline in the Keiyo coastal industrial zone. |
5) Western Kyushu offshore CCS project
Company Name | West Japan Carbon Storage Research Co., Ltd., ENEOS Corporation, JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation, Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. |
Storage Area | Offshore Western Kyushu (marine aquifer) |
Storage volume | Approximately 1.7 million tons/year |
Emissions Source | Oil refineries and thermal power plants in the Setouchi and Kyushu regions |
Transportation method | Ships and Pipelines |
Business Features | We will promote a CO2 storage project using a hub and cluster method that connects multiple CO2 emission sources with offshore storage sites, targeting exhaust gas from refineries and power plants across a wide area of western Japan, including the Setouchi region. |
6) Malaysia Northern Peninsula Carbon Capture and Storage Project
Company Name | Mitsubishi Corporation, ENEOS Corporation, JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation, JFE Steel Corporation, Cosmo Oil Co., Ltd., Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd., Petronas CCS Solutions Sdn. Bhd. |
Storage Area | Malaysia: Northeast offshore Malay Peninsula (depleted oil and gas fields) |
Storage volume | Approximately 3 million tons/year |
Emissions Source | Multiple industries including steel, chemicals, oil refining, etc. in the Tokyo Bay coastal industrial complex |
Transportation method | Ships and Pipelines |
Business Features | The project will target a wide range of industries in the Keihin and Keiyo areas and will verify the feasibility of building an overseas CCS value chain, with storage off the northeast coast of the Malay Peninsula in cooperation with Malaysia’s PETRONAS. |
remarks | As a result of the review, it was determined that although the proposal was deemed promising, further initial consideration was required to assess its future potential, and discussions will be held toward concluding a contract based on the proposal, on the premise that initial consideration will be conducted. |
7) Malaysia Sarawak Offshore Carbon Capture and Storage Project
Company Name | Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd., JGC Holdings Corporation, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd., Petronas CCS Ventures Sdn. Bhd., JFE Steel Corporation, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Japan Gas Line Co., Ltd. |
Storage Area | Offshore Sarawak, Malaysia (Depleted offshore gas field) |
Storage volume | Approximately 1.9 to 2.9 million tons/year |
Emissions Source | Multiple industries in the Setouchi region, including steel mills, power plants, and chemical plants |
Transportation method | Ships and Pipelines |
Business Features | In addition to consolidating CO2 emissions at shipping bases through collaboration between petrochemical complexes in the Setouchi region, the company will also promote a project in collaboration with Malaysia’s PETRONAS to collect CO2 captured outside petrochemical complexes at the same base via domestic shipping, and then transport it by ocean freight to Malaysia for storage. |
8) Malaysia Southern Malay Peninsula Carbon Capture and Storage Project
Company Name | Mitsui & Co., Ltd., The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc., The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc., Cosmo Oil Co., Ltd., Electric Power Development Co., Ltd., Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc., Resonac Inc., UBE Mitsubishi Cement Co., Ltd. |
Storage Area | Malaysia: Off the east coast of the Malay Peninsula (offshore oil and gas fields, aquifers) |
Storage volume | Approximately 5 million tons/year |
Emissions Source | Multiple industries including power generation, chemicals, cement, and oil refining in the Kinki, Chugoku, and Kyushu regions |
Transportation method | Ships and Pipelines |
Business Features | The company will promote a project to capture CO2 on a large scale from emission sources across multiple industries in a wide area of western Japan, and transport and store the CO2 across borders in a storage hub to be developed off the east coast of the Malay Peninsula together with Malaysia’s PETRONAS and France’s TotalEnergies. |
9) Oceania Carbon Capture and Storage project
Company Name | Mitsubishi Corporation, Nippon Steel Corporation, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation Clean Energy Co., Ltd., ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. |
Storage Area | Oceania (offshore depleted oil and gas fields, aquifers) |
Storage volume | Approximately 2 million tons/year |
Emissions Source | Multiple industries including steelworks in Chubu (Nagoya, Yokkaichi) |
Transportation method | Ships and Pipelines |
Business Features | The project will examine the business feasibility of an overseas CCS value chain concept that envisages storage in the ocean areas of Oceania, targeting a wide range of industries in the Port of Nagoya and the Port of Yokkaichi. |
source: carbon herald
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