Agenda

Recently, there has been a surge in the announcement of ‘net-zero’ ambitions by governments, notably by industrial countries in Asia. These announcements by governments are accompanied by plans to vigorously support the introduction of measures through CCUS.

Preceding many governments’ announcements were pledges of net-zero goals by corporations around the world. The UNFCCC reported in September 2020 that the commitments of non-state actors, such as regional and local governments, private corporations, and citizens’ groups to net-zero doubled in less than a year. 1,101 businesses participated in the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign, most of whom pledged net-zero by 2050.

There is a clear momentum of increased ambition both by governments and corporate organisations that would give a strong foundation for policies and promotion measures specified for CCUS as a climate change mitigation measure.

This panel will discuss the way forward with:

• Regulatory and policy frameworks
• Models for incentivising CCS projects
• Carbon tax and carbon credit regime

Overall, the economics of CCUS implementation rely heavily on the balance of many factors. Some of these are the amount of CO2 captured, cost to capture, impact to host plant efficiency and output, cost-benefit of and ability to leverage tax credits, capital cost, and operations and maintenance costs.

When installing carbon capture systems, organisations must consider how they will dispose of and benefit from the large amounts of captured CO2. Location is the most important factor to weigh in when making these decisions. The cost to transport excess gas is substantial, plants need to be relatively close to the end storage reservoir for CCUS deployment to make economic sense.

Organisations must really look into strategies on how to utilise CO2 and generate other revenue streams from the CO2 captured.

Among the topics that will be discussed are:

• Project financing options

• Business models for revenue generating CCUS Projects

• Specific revenue generating CCUS projects

Southeast Asia is a compact geographical area with oil and gas infrastructures close to suitable geological sites, making the region highly strategic and ideal to build a CCUS hub to provide CO2 storage solutions for its countries, and neighbouring jurisdictions. A CCUS hub and cluster network delivers economies of scale and substantially reduces unit costs of CO2 transportation and storage.

A network is better suited to attract investments and to reduce financial risks for individual investors. Another advantage of a network is that it would improve operational flexibility by creating multiple operators and customers, which enables storage sites switching in the event of planned or unplanned outages.

Southeast Asia also has strong technical capabilities with the potential of developing a strong CCUS services industry, targeting offshore operations. As the region has an extensive infrastructure plan for oil and gas pipelines connecting Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, and Cambodia, deploying CCUS in the region will not be without significant challenges. However, the way forward is to forge collaboration within the industry to form a regional CCUS hub and cluster network.

The following key points will be discussed to encourage the thinking of public and private stakeholders when developing their CCS plan and strategy:

• Role of governments in supporting the regional hub and cluster network.

• The feasibility of governments incorporating CCUS into their PSC schemes.

• Public and Private Partnership in CCUS project development.

• The importance of international collaboration, foreign aid for financial resources.

• Mechanisms and tools to incentivise CCUS investment.