Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is to enter a UK government-sponsored race to build a carbon capture and storage plant in Britain.
The only oil company to take part, Shell will join a consortium led by energy firm Scottish Power which is competing against two other groups to win government funding for a commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) system.
Also joining Scottish PowerÔÇÖs consortium will be UK-based firm National Grid. Norwegian company Aker Clean Carbon, which is developing the carbon capture technology, is an existing member of the group.
The two other groups are being led by German power companies RWE and Eon.
Experts have said that developing CCS techniques will become increasingly important in the battle against climate change. As yet, however, such technology has only been demonstrated on a small scale.
ScottishPower has recently begun to test the chemistry involved in capturing CO2 from power station flue gases at a prototype carbon capture plant in Longannet Power Station in Fife, Scotland. The test unit is an exact small-scale replica of the commercial-scale unit.
Shell is replacing US firm Marathon Oil, which is no longer part of the consortium. UK oil company BP also left the race last November.
The Government is expected to eliminate one of the three consortia from the race by the end of this year or early in 2010. Once the winner is announced and funding granted, a plant is expected to be in action by 2014. It has not yet been confirmed how much funding will be made available; however it is estimated that the cost of building a CCS unit would be in the region of £1 billion.
John Gallagher, vice president of Shell said: ÔÇ£We are delighted to be joining the ScottishPower led CCS Consortium. Shell believes CCS is a technology that will be vital to tackling climate change and we believe that at this stage it is essential that we ÔÇÿlearn by doingÔÇÖ in order to reduce costs, accelerate technology and ultimately make CCS commercially viable.
ÔÇ£The core business of the oil and gas industry is the handling of gas and liquids above and below the surface ÔÇô that makes companies like Shell very well placed to help deliver CCS. The opportunities that exist in Scotland and the North Sea should be maximised wherever possible.ÔÇØ
ScottishPower chief executive Nick Horler said: ÔÇ£I am delighted to welcome Shell and National Grid to the team. Both of these companies will bring specialist knowledge, expertise and opportunities for growth in the development of this cutting edge technology.
ÔÇ£For the consortium the two new companies represent a ÔÇÿperfect fitÔÇÖ as it strives to reduce CO2 emissions by 90 per cent from its power plant at Longannet in Scotland."
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