High CO2 levels no deterrent for Sarawak

Daily Express

25-07-2025

Published on: Friday, July 25, 2025
Published on: Fri, Jul 25, 2025
By: Sherell Jeffrey Text Size: L/R: Arabi, Hanh Le, Diofanny and Fairuz. KUCHING: Half of Sarawak's natural gas reserves contain high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), making them difficult to extract and use, but technology is turning this into a multi-billion-ringgit opportunity. 'For Sarawak, the importance of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technologies is profound,' said Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) Resource Management Senior Vice President Datuk Abang Arabi Abang Narudin. 'It is about robust economic growth, securing high value jobs, diversifying our economy, ensuring energy security and cementing our position as forward-thinking players in this global energy transition,' he said at the recent International Energy Week Summit (IEW) 2025's Panel Discussion where industry experts challenged skepticism about CCUS technology's effectiveness and viability. The summit, hosted by the Sarawak Energy and Environmental Sustainability Ministry and organised by Informa Markets, a world leading market-making company, brought together regional experts to discuss how CCUS technologies can transform the oil and gas sector towards sustainability. Daily Express was among those invited for the event held at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching, here. What exactly is CCUS? CCUS is a technology that captures CO2 from industrial processes before it enters the atmosphere, then either uses it for other purposes or stores it safely underground. For Sarawak, this technology holds promise. 'We are blessed with many natural resources, we sit on top of 65 per cent of the geological formation that is ideal and best for the CCUS,' said Abang Arabi. 'If you look at our natural gas resources, we have vast natural gas resources, but 50 per cent of our remaining resources are contaminated gas with high CO2. 'Hence, CCUS is important for us to unlock the value from these resources,' he said, adding that Sarawak wants to harness that and position itself as a leading player in the region for CCUS. He said technology optimisation, financing, policy certainty and infrastructure development are four key factors needed for CCUS' success. 'We are looking at using CO2 in combination with hydrogen, for example, create e-methanol, e-methane,' he said, pointing out how Sarawak is exploring innovative applications. 'When hydrogen becomes cheaper and cheaper to produce, it makes sense for us to go for synthetic gas or synthetic fuel through CO2,' he said. Sarawak is also looking at proprietary technology that combines CO2 with gas to produce hydrogen and chemical feedstock. 'It is a technology called HYCO1. This is something that we are exploring. It is in its early days. I think they are ready for a pilot in the near future,' he added. Additionally, Sarawak is developing two CCUS hub to create shared infrastructure and achieve economies of scale. 'The whole intent and purpose is to have a common shared infrastructure for us to have economy of scale and make CCUS more affordable,' he said. When asked about environmental risks from storing CO2 underground, Abang Arabi, who is a geophysicist by training said, 'If you look at our reservoirs, the oil and gas has been deposited there for millions of years without leakage. It needs us to poke a hole and drill to bring it out.' One common criticism of the CCUS technology is that it is expensive and complex while offering limited environmental benefits. The panel disagreed with this assessment. Asia Natural Gas and Energy Association (ANGEA) Singapore Senior Advisor Hanh Le said CCUS is a technology that provides large scale decarbonisation. 'It is probably the highest scale of mitigation options that are available to us right now,' she said, adding that public acceptance and policy harmonisation are important in the CCUS. 'If you want to build a regional CCUS hubs and CCUS as a regional business model, we need that policy certainty related to liability, how you manage the liabilities not just operational liabilities, but also from emission accounting liability as well,' she said. 'ANGEA has implemented many carbon, capture and storage (CCS) projects in the world, notably Gorgon in Australia, Chevron. Risk is low and environmental assessment has been done,' she said. She said Singapore is also expanding its CCUS footprint with three flagship projects spanning from western to eastern Indonesia and awarding new license areas for carbon injection working areas. 'Lack of public acceptance often come from misunderstanding. When people understand, they will be a lot more willing to accept,' said Hanh Le pointing out that education is key. Meanwhile, Indonesia Carbon Capture and Storage Centre (ICCSC) Strategic Initiative Director Diofanny Swandrina Putri said CCUS has numerous benefits that are more than just environmental impact. 'When you do something, you gain something, right? Even though we know it is expensive and difficult, but if you are looking towards the advantage that we can gain in terms of economic growth, value chain, job creation and green future, I think it is worth a try,' she said. She said for Indonesia, the CCS could support up to 70 per cent of the country's decarbonisation efforts, a notably higher contribution than the global average of 11 per cent. 'We also partner with the World Bank, International Finance Corporation and the Asian Development Bank who have this urgency to fund CCS projects,' she said, pointing out strong international funding appetite for CCS projects. 'There are a lot of technology providers coming to the ICCSC offering huge potential of the carbon capture technology. They say they can reduce the cost until 70 per cent, going from $100 per ton to $30 per ton,' she said. One of the most intriguing aspects of CCUS is the potential to turn Co2 from waste product into something valuable. 'First, as an asset that is traded, carbon credits. Second is carbon as feedstock, like carbon utilisation. Third is carbon as a circular economy,' Diofanny said, outlining three ways this could happen. 'Research from Oxford University shows that when CO2 is injected more than two kilometers underground according to international standards, the risk of leakage over 100 years is only 0.02 per cent,' she added. She acknowledged that public acceptance remains a challenge. Indonesia's approach involves engaging young people early. 'We are trying to involve youths and the ICCSC is launching the first CCS student chapter in the world. 'They are the ones who is going to do this for the next 20 years, 30 years and we need them to get onboard with us,' she said. Indonesia is also working on regulatory frameworks and international cooperation. 'We want to launch business license for the CCUS, because if you want to do business in Indonesia, you need to get the business license. 'We are also working towards government-to-government (G2G) agreements together with Singapore. We signed the MOU for the CCUS cross-border last June,' she said. Contrary to popular belief, the CCUS technology is not waiting for some breakthrough innovation. 'The CCUS technology has existed for many years,' said Aker Solutions Consultancy Director Ahmad Fairuz Mohd Amin. 'CCUS is like flossing your teeth. If you do not do it, then you realise one day there is a cavity in your tooth and then you start hurting yourself. It is something that is inevitable. You just need to do it,' he said, adding that Aker Solutions has been involved in CCUS projects since the 1990s. 'It is really about continuous optimisation, lowering the cost to make it more affordable,' he said. He said Aker Solutions is also involved in the world's first CO2 injection in Sleipner and more recent projects in Norway. The company has also worked on the Longship CCUS programme, which includes the Northern Lights project and the Brevik CO2 cement plant, the first capture facility of its kind in the world. 'The Brevik has captured around 400,000 metric tons of CO2 last month, being transferred into Northern Lights,' Ahmad Fairuz said. 'We have gone through all the bruises, blood and tears trying to execute CCUS. It is no easy task. What I mean is, financially we got hurt,' he said. However, he pointed out that costs will decrease as the technology becomes more standardised. 'Look at solar in 2005, and today, you see the cost going down. Thus, I think we must start and then it will go to that path of cost reduction,' he said. Moving forward, he said they recently signed with some partners on a technology called Zero Emission Unconventional Power System (Zeus) which uses oxy-combustion technology. 'Oxy-combustion is not new. It has been there for ages but we want to make it small footprint, lightweight. 'We are trying to bring power plant directly offshore, avoid having pipelines or gas processing plants. The system uses rocket engine technology adapted for energy production. 'We went to the US, brought a rocket engine and put it inside the system. The first pilot plant will be in Malaysia,' he said without disclosing its exact location except that it requires hundreds of millions of ringgits. Interestingly, the Zeus system can handle extremely high CO2 content. 'The Zeus system can take on 90 per cent CO2 as a system. Why? Because they use the same CO2 to cool up the system and enhance gas recovery,' he said. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
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