Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| Australian onshore gas field production facility operated by Senex Energy, a subsidiary of POSCO International. Courtesy of POSCO International |
By Kim Hyun-bin
POSCO International has been speeding up the commercialization of carbon capture and storage (CCS) to be its future growth engine, according to the company, Tuesday.
The move comes after carbon neutrality by 2050 was set as a national task and legislation was expanded for carbon dioxide capture, transportation and storage. CCS is a technology that captures and stores carbon dioxide emitted by industry.
The captured carbon dioxide must be accompanied by processes such as artificial seismic wave exploration, exploration drilling and carbon dioxide injection to find suitable underground storage.
"This process is similar to the reverse direction of resource development, which extracts natural gas from underground," POSCO International explained.
POSCO International has been recognized for its global capabilities in the oil and gas exploration and production (EP) field through its success in gas field exploration in Myanmar and recently securing gas field exploration rights in Indonesia and Malaysia.
POSCO International is the only company in Korea that connects all stages of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) value chain, obtains technologies and personnel for natural gas exploration, gas transportation and gas field terminal operation.
The company has been analyzing the economic feasibility of the CCS business since last year by utilizing depleted offshore gas fields with global energy companies in Australia. In addition, technology evaluation and economic analysis for commercialization of CCS are in progress with Australia's Senex Energy, which was acquired last year.
In Malaysia, together with state-owned oil companies Petronas, Petros, and POSCO Holdings, they are developing a business model to store CO2 captured in Korea in saline aquifers and offshore depleted gas fields.
In Korea, the company is also preparing a joint investigation with a global company to find carbon deposits. In addition, POSCO International is looking for investment targets in the U.S. for the CCS project, and plans to review investment in the second half of the year.
