Malaysia's state-owned Petronas has signed an agreement with Japanese trading firm Mitsui and French firm TotalEnergies Carbon Neutrality Ventures to jointly develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Malaysia.
The deal, which was inked on 26 June, advances initiatives outlined in respective initial agreements signed by the three firms in 2022, according to Petronas. This involves "all aspects of CCS development," from assessing maturing depleted fields and saline aquifers for storage, identifying possible customers, determining the optimal method to deliver CO2 from regional industrial clusters to Malaysia, and developing the required commercial and legal frameworks. The firms hope to develop a CO2 merchant storage service to help industrial customers in Asia decarbonise, said TotalEnergies.
The agreement allows for the development of a "first of its kind integrated CCS solution for industries in the Asia-Pacific region," said Petronas, although targeted volumes and timelines were not disclosed.
"The mission of our company now is reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions," said TotalEnergies' chief executive officer Patrick Pouyanne on 26 June at the Energy Asia conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "Carbon capture will be part of that journey," he added, in achieving a new low-carbon system.
TotalEnergies also separately signed an agreement on the sidelines of the conference with Petronas' renewable energy subsidiary Gentari on 26 June, to develop renewable energy projects in the Asia-Pacific region. Under this agreement, TotalEnergies and Gentari aim to jointly develop the 100MW Pleasant Hills solar project in Queensland, Australia, and supply low-carbon electricity from this project to the Roma field's gas production and processing facilities. The Pleasant Hills project will contribute to lowering the emissions of Gladstone LNG, in which TotalEnergies and Petronas each hold a 27.5pc stake.
