I recently read an article in the Financial Post written by Eric Nuttall
Eric is a partner and senior portfolio manager at Ninepoint Partners LP.
I recently read an article in the Financial Post written by “Eric Nuttall is a partner and senior portfolio manager at Ninepoint Partners LP.”
As an expert in the field of CCUS I strongly agree with Nuttall’s message. Pertaining to this and CCUS, I believe there are technologies that can capture large amounts of point source emissions. Post combustion capture systems have been built and de-risked. However, it doesn’t end there. Solvents need to be test insitu with flue gas to see degradation effects during accelerated contact periods. This is needed for future operations of the plant.
-New technologies continue to present themselves and need to be scaled up to see their true economics and ability to capture carbon.
-Oil and gas companies need to be part of the solution rather than being singled out as the cause of the build up of green house gases in our atmosphere. Oil and gas companies have the best understanding and datasets for siting CO2 storage projects.
-Renewable Energy is important and needs to be incorporated into grids. However, each global grid is unique and can handle a maximum percentage of renewable energy before becoming unstable. Spinning reserves of abated fossil fuel power will be needed to avoid brown/black outs of power.
-Transitioning out of unabated fossil fuels is critical but cannot be done in an unreasonable time frame. Fossil fuels will need to be cleaned up and are an important component for transitioning into greener energy.
-Countries that have fossil fuels, especially oil and gas, have storage capacity. These countries will have the ability to convert their unabated fossil fuel into a zero-emission fuel that will compliment renewable energy.
This brings me to Eric Nuttall’s article about the western or developed country’s solution to climate change which is to abandon the use fossil fuel. If transition of fossil fuel is forced too quickly, the public will pay much higher fuel prices for vehicles and power usage. Nuttall writes “Western government officials often speak of “just transitions,” emission caps and the end of oil, while Middle Eastern ministers speak of energy diversification, circular carbon economies and the essential need to increase oil and natural gas production in order to meet the requirements of a growing global population.”
We have seen our federal government say there is no strong business case for Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) that could be exported to Germany and Japan. This is a missed opportunity. Nuttall writes “Driving the streets of Doha in Qatar, a country soon to become the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the words “there has never been a strong business case for LNG” rang in my ears.
By not using our Canadian resources during this time of Russia demonstrating weaponizing hydrocarbons in its provoked war with Ukraine is very sad and a loss for Canada’s economy and future financial health.