CCS Project Database
Fact Sheet: Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Project
Company/Alliance: Athabasca Oil Sands Project: Shell Canada, Chevron Canada and Marathon Oil Sands
Location: Shell’s Scotford Upgrader, located near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada
Start Date: November 2015
Size: up to 1.2 Mt/yr (35% capture)
CO2 Source: The Scotford steam methane reformer units, which produces hydrogen for upgrading bitumen (capture using amine technology)
Storage: 64 km onshore pipeline to onshore Radway field, near the county of Thornhild. This is a saline aquifer at a depth of 2km (Cambrian Basal Sands) and possible EOR
Motivation/Economics:
Total cost of the project is estimated at $1.35 billion. Canada and Alberta governments are to invest C$865 Million (October 2009). The project was also awarded C$120 million from the Clean Energy Fund (a fund established by the Canadian Government to demonstrate CCS technology). The Alberta Government has offered to provide $745 million to the project.
The current estimate of capital costs is about $811 million, which is a reduction from our original AFE. The current estimate of operating costs is about $41 million per year. Project revenues will be zero during construction and will be $27 million per year during operations from the sale of carbon credits at 2014 carbon prices plus those from the ADOE Funding Agreement.
Shell filed its regulatory application for Quest on November 30, 2010, after the Alberta Government released The Carbon Capture and Storage Statutes Amendment Act, 2010 which guides how large scale CCS projects will proceed in Alberta. The DNV issued its first certificate of fitness for CO2 storage for Shell's Quest project in November 2011.
In September 2012 the Quest project received approval from Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board. Shell says it now has all the necessary federal and provincial regulatory approvals in place and construction, which will take roughly 30 months, has already started.
Comments:
On November 6, 2015 the Quest project began capture of one third of the CO2 emissions (more than 1Mt/Yr) from Shell’s Scotford Upgrader.
This project is part of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project. Currently there are 3 test wells being drilled at the injection site 90 km north. CO2 transportation is via pipeline to the injection site at Radway field, near the county of Thornhild. The target saline reservoir is the Cambrian Basal Sands at a depth of 2,000 – 2,500 metres (6500-8000 feet).
Shell began its production from Scotford oil sands upgrader expansion project on May 2011. This increases Scotford's bitumen upgrading capacity to 255,000 b/day.
In April 2012, a screening report released by Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Transportation Agency concluded that the proposed Shell Quest CCS Project is not likely to result in significant adverse environmental effects, with the implementation of the appropriate mitigation measures.
In August 27, 2014, Shell Canada fitted the final module at the Quest CCS project
The Quest CCS project was built with funding from the Alberta and Canadian federal government to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the oil sands.
Project Link: Shell Quest CCS website
Other Sources and Press Releases:
Quest Exceeds 1 Million Metric Tons of CO2 Stored (September 2016)
Canadian carbon capture and storage projects will soon sequester up to 6.4 million tonnes of CO2 per year (September 2016)
Kearl Phase 2, Quest carbon capture and storage project take home Alberta Construction Magazine Top Projects awards (January 2016)
Shell launches Quest carbon capture and storage project (November 2015)
Fluor provided preliminary services and front-end engineering for Quest (March 2015)
DOE lends Shell a hand on carbon capture in Canada (February 2015)
Shell fits final module on Alberta oil sands' first carbon capture project (August 2014)
KBR Canada wins module-building contract for Shell’s Quest carbon capture and storage project (April 2013)
Fluor to Build Shell's Quest Carbon Capture Facility in Canada (October 2012)
Shell starts quest for first carbon capture oil sands project (September 2012)
Carbon capture project inches closer to construction (April 2012)
DNV Issues First Certificate of Fitness for CO2 Storage (November 2011)
Shell begins production from Scotford oil sands upgrader (May 2011)
Shell's Quest project starts (September 2010)
Canada and Alberta to invest C$865M (October 2009)
Government moves forward on carbon capture projects (June 2009)
