“Capitalizing on Norway’s Leadership in CCS”

“Wenn jemand eine Reise tut, so kann er was erzählen.” In English, this well-known quote from the poet Mattias Claudius roughly translates to, “When someone goes on a journey, they return with stories to tell.” TCM’s Managing Director, Muhammad Ismail Shah, has undertaken three longer international trips in recent months and is brimming with impressions he’s eager to share.

The most recent trip was to India, the world’s most populous country, where the government is aiming to reduce annual CO₂ emissions of 2.9 gigatons to net zero by 2070 — all while tackling widespread poverty.

During his visit to India, Mr Shah was introduced to stakeholders from Govt., energy and heavy industries, facilitating fruitful discussions on the latest innovations in carbon capture, opportunities for technology transfer, and the critical role of multilateral partnerships in addressing global challenges. Photo: Innovation Norway

At the Start of a Long Climate Journey

“India is at the start of its journey to reduce emissions, but both politicians and industry leaders understand there is no alternative,” says Shah. “That’s why it was so inspiring to meet with key leaders of energy supply companies and emission-heavy industries and talk about Norway’s Longship project and the role TCM plays in developing technologies that make it possible to realize this and several other global CCS projects.”

During his well-organized week-long stay, coordinated by Innovation Norway’s local representative, Shah also attended an event at the Norwegian Embassy in Delhi, where the Norwegian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee met with prominent Indian politicians and business leaders.

”What makes India particularly interesting for Norway is the trade agreement signed between the two countries this spring, which eliminates tariffs for over 90 percent of the goods we export. For TCM, this agreement lays the foundation for developing collaboration on technology, which will be crucial for India to reduce its enormous climate emissions in the long term.”

The Momentum of CCS in the USA

While Shah sowed seeds on his trip to India that will take time to sprout, his participation in the annual conference of the U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) was of a different caliber. Together with Chief Technology Officer Matthew Campbell and Business Development Manager Rouzbeh Jafari, he met around 1,500 participants from leading CCS communities in the U.S. and Europe.

”I participated in a panel discussion with representatives from American test centers and exchanged interesting views on how we can contribute to the further development of both mature and new carbon capture technologies. Once again, the experience was that TCM is held in high regard, both for our excellent facilities and the support we provide technology developers in planning and conducting test campaigns.”

At the NETL conference, the TCM delegation met with companies considering testing at Mongstad. These meetings were a key step toward commercializing new technologies.

”We also had good discussions with clients who, over the years, have conducted test campaigns at the amine plant or the Site for Emerging Technologies, and who may return to Mongstad. In addition, we enjoyed a pleasant dinner with the leadership of the CCS department at the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), which is a strong contributor to funding the development of innovative capture technologies.”

Shah noted that the impression is that the Biden administration’s significant focus on technology development through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is likely to continue regardless of the outcome of the November presidential election, as it has strong support in Congress. ”In the U.S., CCS as a tool in the climate fight has momentum that is hard to find elsewhere in the world”, Shah emphasizes.

Awaiting Investment Decisions So, what about our own continent – Europe?

Muhammad Ismail Shah and Communication Manager Liv Lønne Dille gained more insight into this during the Carbon Capture Global Summit in London. The conference gathered participants from all the major CCS players worldwide, where TCM had a well-visited stand.

“The professional environments in Europe are undoubtedly working hard to bring cost-effective technologies to market. However, while major projects in Norway and Denmark are already up and running, and projects in the UK are nearing investment decisions, most other European countries continue to face delays due to a lack of critical investment,” Shah highlights.

”Once this ‘bottleneck’ is resolved, I’m confident it will unlock a large market for TCM’s services, such as technology refinement and personnel training for operating CCS plants. That’s why it’s incredibly important that we in Norway succeed with the value chain for capturing, transporting, and storing CO₂, thus showing Europe that CCS can be implemented in practice.”