Diao Yuqian, Wang Xiaoyu, CNOOC Research Institute Co., Ltd.

The number of CCS/CCUS projects and their carbon capture and storage capacity have significantly increased

In recent years, China's carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCS/CCUS) project construction has experienced rapid development, with a significant increase in the number, scale, and CCS/CCUS capacity. According to statistics from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, as of December 2023, China has 11 CCS/CCUS commercial projects in operation or under development, with CO2 capture and storage capacity of approximately 5.1 million t/a, an increase of about 25% from 2022. Megaton projects such as the CNOOC Pearl River Mouth Basin CCS project and the Qilu Petrochemical-Shengli Oilfield CCUS project have been put into operation. The China CCUS Annual Report 2023 predicts that China's CCUS emission reduction demand in 2025 will be around 24 million t/a, and is expected to increase to nearly 100 million t/a by 2030. Currently, China still faces a substantial emission reduction demand gap. According to incomplete statistics from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, China has more than 60 CCS/CCUS demonstration projects, with more than 30 projects exceeding 100 000 t/a, over 15 projects surpassing 500 000 t/a, and several megaton projects in the planning and construction phases. In June 2023, CNOOC, the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Shell (China) Co., Ltd. and Exxonmobil (CHINA) Investment Co., Ltd. jointly signed a memorandum of understanding on the CCUS cluster research project in Daya Bay area, aiming to jointly build China's first offshore large-scale CCS industrial cluster. In November, Sinopec signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with Shell (China) Co., Ltd., China Baowu Steel Group Corporation and BASF Co., Ltd. to jointly launch China's first open 10-million-ton CCUS project in East China.

CCS/CCUS projects have an expanding industry coverage. EOR-CO2 remains the main utilization method, and marine carbon sequestration has high development potential

Regarding industry distribution, in recent years, the CO2 capture sources of China's CCS/CCUS demonstration projects have gradually expanded to multiple industries, such as electric power, oil and gas, chemicals, cement, and steel. Among them, the power industry leads with over 25 demonstration projects, followed by the chemical industry, oil and gas, cement and building materials, steel and hydrogen production. In 2023, new CCS/CCUS trial operation projects mainly concentrated on the steel and power industries. Regarding CO2 utilization, currently domestic CCS/CCUS demonstration projects mainly use geological utilization method. In the meantime, projects using chemical and biological utilization method are also increasing year by year. As of December 2023, there are 28 EOR-CO2 projects, and a few projects are used to enhance the mining of coalbed methane. Only a few projects, such as the CNOOC Pearl River Estuary CCS project, will ultimately store the collected CO2 geologically. Regarding the land-sea distribution, CCS/CCUS projects are primarily located on land, and only three offshore CCS/CCUS projects are currently launched. China's offshore CCS/CCUS research is still in its early stages, with relatively few research projects.

The policy system is taking shape, and relevant technologies have made some headway

In recent years, China has attached great importance to the development of CCS/CCUS and has incorporated full-process, integrated, and large-scale CCS/CCUS projects into relevant plans. With the establishment of the carbon peak and carbon neutral “1+N” policy system, policies in support of CCS/CCUS technology R&D and demonstration have been continuously introduced. Additionally, policies on technical standards and investment and financing have gradually increased. The application of the technology has gradually expanded from electricity, oil and gas industry to those industries facing challenges in emissions reduction, attracting wider policy attention and practical application. Local governments have steadily strengthened their support for the advancement of CCS/CCUS technology. More than ten provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions have issued opinions or work plans related to carbon peak and carbon neutrality from different aspects based on their regional characteristics, and carried out research and development and promotion of CCS/CCUS technology. Through the reinforcement of basic research, key technology research, project integration demonstration and other measures, China has made rapid development in CO2 capture, transportation, utilization, storage and other technical aspects, and made a series of achievements. Now, China has system design capabilities in large-scale carbon dioxide capture, pipeline transportation, utilization and storage, and the basis for substantial applications in the near future.

However, China still encounters many challenges such as the absence of business models and insufficient policy incentives for large-scale applications. Additionally, there is a lack of sustained CCS/CCUS-specific support policies and long-term funding mechanisms, which could potentially impact the commercialization, marketization, and sustainable development of China's CCS/CCUS projects in the future.