Offshore staff
IRVING, Texas – ExxonMobil has increased its participation in the proposed Acorn carbon capture and storage project in Scotland by signing an expression of interest to capture, transport, and store CO2 from its Fife ethylene plant in Mossmorran.
In July, the company signed a memorandum of understanding to capture and store emissions from gas terminals at the St Fergus complex at Peterhead, Scotland, which includes ExxonMobil’s joint venture gas terminal, in North Sea reservoirs.
The initial phase of Acorn, which is bidding to be in the first wave of carbon capture clusters to be announced by the UK government, has the potential to deliver more than half of the country’s target of capturing and storing 10 MM metric tons/year of CO2 by 2030. When expanded further, it is expected to have the potential to store more than 20 MM metric tons/year of CO2 by the mid-2030s.
Joe Blommaert, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, said: “With the right government policies in place and industry collaboration, the carbon capture and storage opportunities we are evaluating, such as in Scotland, have the potential to move forward with current technologies for large-scale, game-changing emissions reductions.”
The Fife ethylene plant recently completed a $170-million (£140-million) investment program to upgrade key infrastructure and introduce new technologies that will improve operational reliability and performance. A further project is under way to install an enclosed ground flare. On schedule to be operational by the end of 2022, the unit is designed to reduce noise, light and vibration, and it is estimated the investment will reduce the use of the plant’s elevated flare by at least 98%.
The Acorn project recently announced plans to capture and store CO2 from the Grangemouth Refinery.
10/06/2021
