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Denmark invites applications for CO2 storage permits

  • : Emissions, Hydrogen, Natural gas
  • 25/01/09

The Danish Energy Agency has launched its fourth tender inviting applications for exploration and CO2 storage, in three areas off the northwest coast of Denmark.

The blocks, in the Danish North Sea, are geologically "particularly suitable for storing CO2", Denmark's geological survey found. The application deadline is 6 March.

The Danish government issues permits with two phases — an exploration and a storage phase. If granted an exploration permit, developers have up to six years to investigate and assess the suitability and CO2 storage capacity of the area. They are then able to apply for a storage permit, which will be valid for up to 30 years. The Danish state holds a 20pc stake in all exploration and storage permits.

Denmark awarded three CO2 exploration permits in February 2023, and three more in June last year. UK company Ineos took a final investment decision for the first phase of the Greensand CO2 storage project in December. The site's developers successfully demonstrated a pilot CO2 injection in March 2023.

The carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry is gradually developing, led by northern Europe. The region has a geological advantage, in its declining oil and gas fields, as well as government funding from countries including Denmark and Norway.


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25/03/21

US hydrogen hype gives way to more practical prospects

US hydrogen hype gives way to more practical prospects

Developers have reined in expectations, seeking faster commerciality for more specific applications, writes Jasmina Kelemen Houston, 21 March (Argus) — Hydrogen's one-time promise as a wonder fuel has been replaced in 2025 with a more practical understanding of its limitations, a momentum shift welcomed by industry proponents who gathered in Houston, Texas, last week at the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference. It has been a roller-coaster ride for the sector since the administration of President Joe Biden zeroed in on hydrogen as a means of reducing emissions and creating jobs, unveiling generous tax incentives in 2022's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). A frenzy of project proposals soon followed. That excitement dissolved into a frustrating wait as the administration embarked on a years-long review process that only concluded in January with the release of finalised rules for the 45V production tax credits, leading some to conclude the hydrogen dream had crashed before take-off. The reality is more nuanced. "The death of hydrogen has been greatly exaggerated," Chevron's vice-president of hydrogen, Austin Knight, said at CERAWeek. "There are real projects actually happening," he said, pointing to the company's ACES Delta joint venture with Mitsubishi Power. The Utah project is forecast to initially convert 220MW of renewable power into 100 t/d of hydrogen, and will begin operations this year. Whittling the sector down to its most realistic prospects is a welcome departure from previous years, when hydrogen was viewed as the "Swiss army knife" of fuels — a tool that could be used to solve almost any problem — Oleksiy Tatarenko, senior principal at Rocky Mountain Institute, said. It is now being viewed as a more precise approach for specific applications in ‘hard-to-abate' industries such as steel and chemicals, he said. BP still sees hydrogen as an important component to decarbonising refineries, but its deployment timeline will be longer than expected, BP's senior vice-president of refining, terminals and pipelines, Amber Russell, said. BP has scaled back hydrogen plans, shelving 18 projects since October. Of those remaining, two include refineries in countries with fiscal incentives for hydrogen production, and near other industries looking to cut emissions. BP's 440,000 b/d Whiting refinery in Indiana could have similar potential, Russell said, but "45V ...and the IRA are incredibly important to helping us understand when that happens". One among many Hydrogen's shifting position in the clean energy landscape could even be seen in the CERAWeek conference's floor plan this year. In a space for showcasing new technologies and ideas, the Hydrogen Hub of previous years had disappeared, replaced by a New Energies Hub, under which hydrogen was just one of multiple clean-energy solutions on display, along with biofuels, nuclear power and other renewables. "That is a positive thing for this space writ large," GTI Energy's Open Hydrogen Initiative executive director, Zane McDonald, said. "We are starting to get very practical," he said. "We want to focus on projects that are going to make money, that have an offtaker and can materialise in the next two years." Among the projects expected to take off most rapidly are those that can tap into demand for lower-carbon fuels in Europe and Asia or more modestly sized US producers located near specialty industries that are looking to curb emissions. "The quality of the projects we're seeing in our pipeline is better," said Black & Veatch hydrogen and ammonia director Bryan Mandelbaum, who sees a growing niche for 10-200MW projects targeting heavy industries such as chemical processors. He contrasted this favourably with a flurry of clients that appeared after the 45V tax was first announced. "It was good for business in the short term, but at the same time you knew 80pc of those were never going to develop." Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Australia's Simcoa may buy carbon credits until 2028


25/03/21
25/03/21

Australia's Simcoa may buy carbon credits until 2028

Sydney, 21 March (Argus) — Australia's silicon producer Simcoa will likely need to buy and surrender Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) until 2028 for safeguard mechanism compliance obligations before it completes a key decarbonisation project, it told Argus today. The project was awarded federal funds on 20 March. Australia's federal Labor government granted Simcoa A$39.8mn ($25mn) under its Powering the Regions Fund (PRF) to expand charcoal production at its Wellesley facility in Western Australia (WA) and remove the use of coal in silicon production. The project is expected to reduce the company's scope 1 emissions by around 90pc, or approximately 100,000 t/yr of CO2 equivalent (CO2e). Simcoa is Australia's only silicon manufacturer, which is a key component of solar panels. The funding will help maintain silicon manufacturing capability in the country in addition to cutting emissions, energy minister Chris Bowen said. The company currently uses 35,000 t/yr of metallurgical low ash coal in its operations, and anticipates usage will drop to zero after it doubles its charcoal production capacity by 25,000 t/yr to 50,000 t/yr. The completion date for the expansion is not expected before 2028. The firm may continue to buy [ACCUs] as it must use coal as a reducing agent for part of its production for calendar years 2025-27, or until the expansion project can be commissioned, the company told Argus on 21 March. Simcoa surrendered 22,178 ACCUs in the July 2022-June 2023 compliance year as it reported scope 1 emissions of 122,178t of CO2e with a baseline of 100,000t CO2e at its Kemerton silicon smelter. Figures were lower for the July 2023-June 2024 compliance period, the company said, without disclosing details. Australia's Clean Energy Regulator (CER) will publish 2023-24 safeguard data by 15 April . Simcoa anticipates scope 1 emissions at the Kemerton smelter to be "considerably below" the baseline once the charcoal expansion is completed and could make it eligible to earn and sell safeguard mechanism credits (SMCs), which traded for the first time in late February . "We will take whatever opportunity is available to us," the company said on potentially holding or selling SMCs in future. By Juan Weik Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Canada needs more oil pipelines: PM Carney


25/03/20
25/03/20

Canada needs more oil pipelines: PM Carney

Calgary, 20 March (Argus) — Canada needs to build more oil pipelines to reduce its dependence on foreign supplies while opening up new trade corridors for exports, prime minister Mark Carney said today, amid an escalating trade war with the US. "It's about getting things done. It's about getting, yes, getting pipelines built, across this country, so we that can displace imports of foreign oil," Carney said while in Edmonton, Alberta. A US-triggered trade war has sparked an urgent need across Canada to diversify its trading partners and limit the country's reliance on the US. This has lifted public support for getting pipelines and other infrastructure energy projects built. The prime minister envisions the federal government "using all of its power" and new legislation to expedite such projects, adding "additional levers" will be discussed when he meets with provincial premiers on 21 March. "We need to do things that had not been imagined or had not been thought possible, at a speed we haven't seen before," said Carney. "That's the nature of the time." TC Energy's current chief executive along with 13 other executives from the country's largest oil and gas companies urged the federal government this week to declare a "Canadian energy crisis" to expedite infrastructure projects. General election soon Carney is expected to call a general election soon with his Liberal party riding high in the polls. Despite the Liberals' recent track record on energy infrastructure, Carney is looking to appeal to Alberta voters eager for pipelines who typically vote for the rival, pro-oil patch Conservatives. A combined C$280bn ($194bn) of Canadian oil and natural gas projects have been cancelled over the past decade, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. Of this, C$164bn in the form of LNG projects, C$63bn in pipeline projects, C$30bn in oil sands projects and C$22bn in refinery projects. TC Energy's 1.1mn b/d Energy East pipeline is commonly referenced by industry as a nation-building project that, proposed in 2013, would have supplied Albertan oil to eastern Canada but was abandoned because of changing regulations. There was still no clear indication of when a decision by the federal government could be obtained when TC Energy cancelled it in 2017. Energy East would have piped oil as far east as Irving Oil's 320,000 b/d refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, which relies on foreign imports, while also giving shippers an outlet to export to Europe and beyond. Canada imported 490,000 b/d of crude in 2023, according to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER). Of this, 355,000 b/d came from the US, 63,000 b/d from Nigeria and 53,000 b/d from Saudi Arabia. Canada meanwhile produces about 5mn b/d, sending about 80pc of that to the US. Carney's infrastructure push includes the proposed Pathways Alliance project in Alberta, which entails a C$16.5bn carbon capture and storage hub that could remove up to 22mn t/yr of CO2 by 2030. Generally, Carney wants to pursue energy and trade corridors and trade including potentially from Alberta to either the Canada's Arctic coast in Nunavut or to Hudson Bay via Churchill, Manitoba. Or both. The subject of trade and pipelines was front and center during a meeting with Alberta premier Danielle Smith earlier in the day, who has criticized the federal Liberals for years. "Albertans will no longer tolerate the way we've been treated by the federal Liberals over the past 10 years," said Smith in a statement, adding a specific list of demands, including "unfettered oil and gas corridors to the north, east and west". The Nunavut project, called the Grays Bay Road and Port Project, is a proposed deepwater port that would cater to critical mineral exports. The proponent, West Kitikmeot Resources, told Argus earlier this month that it had not yet had discussions with Alberta about developing crude capabilities. By Brett Holmes Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Brazil central bank raises target rate to 14.25pc


25/03/20
25/03/20

Brazil central bank raises target rate to 14.25pc

Sao Paulo, 20 March (Argus) — Brazil's central bank raised its target interest rate by 1 percentage point to 14.25pc amid accelerating inflation in a decelerating — but still heated — economy. The hike in the target rate, announced Wednesday, was the fifth in a row from a cyclical low of 10.5pc at the end of September last year, partly prompted by accelerating depreciation of the currency, the real, to the US dollar. Brazil's annualized inflation hit 5.06pc in February and is poised to keep accelerating. The bank's Focus economic report increased its inflation forecast to 5.7pc for the end-of-year 2025 from 5.5pc in January, when the bank's policy-making committee last met. Brazil's current government has an inflation ceiling goal of 3pc with tolerance of 1.5 percentage point above or below. The bank has recently changed the way it tracks the inflation goal. Instead of tracking inflation on a calendar year basis, it now monitors the goal on a rolling 12-month basis. The bank cited heated economic activity and a strong labor market as factors that have contributed to rising inflation. But the bank forecasts "modest GDP growth" for Brazil of almost 2pc in 2025, down from 3.4pc growth last year. Further tightening will also be linked to global economic uncertainty prompted by US president Donald Trump's aggressive trade and other policies and the monetary policies of the US Federal Reserve , according to the bank. Brazil's target interest rate is expected to keep rising at the bank's next meeting in 6-7 May, albeit to "a lesser extent" as the contributing factors are set to moderate, according to the committee. By Maria Frazatto Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Brazil promotes forest fund prior to Cop 30


25/03/20
25/03/20

Brazil promotes forest fund prior to Cop 30

Sao Paulo, 20 March (Argus) — Brazil has been meeting with several countries to promote its Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) initiative, a fund to preserve global tropical forests. The country plans to launch TFFF prior to the UN Cop 30 summit, which it will host in November in northern Para state. The fund would help pay around 80 developing countries — including Brazil — $4/hectare (ha) for preserved tropical forests. The goal is to raise about $125bn for the fund, to preserve roughly 1bn ha of tropical forests globally. Roughly 20pc of the fund's resources would come from long-term loans from developed countries and philanthropic entities. The remaining 80pc would come from institutional and retail investors, who will be able to buy debt issued by the fund. The latest TFFF meeting took place last week in London, with representatives from Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Malaysia, Norway and the UK. World Bank and NGO community representatives also attended. Although it is not clear yet whether any country has officially joined the initiative, the fund has received some support. "We believe [TFFF] can be the missing piece of the puzzle with the potential to solve the long-standing problem of how we finance the world's most intact forests," said Kerry McCarthy, the UK's undersecretary of state at the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. "Ghana wholeheartedly supports TFFF," the director of climate change in its forestry commission Roselyn Adjei said, adding that it offers a "unique approach" to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030. "It will help us build a forest-positive economy to achieve a 1.5º C world," she added, alluding to the Paris accords agreement to limit global warming by 1.5º C above pre-industrial levels. By Lucas Parolin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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