Phred Dvorak of The Wall Street Journal is reporting how a natural gas producer will bury enough carbon dioxide to offset emissions generated in making and burning its gas. She writes:
A shale driller is out to prove that it is possible to go completely green—while still producing natural gas.
Denver-based BKV says that by the 2030s it will store millions of tons of climate-warming carbon dioxide in wells deep underground to eliminate or offset all of the emissions generated from manufacturing and using its gas.
The idea is that consumers can buy that gas and use it without contributing to climate change, says Christopher Kalnin, BKV’s chief executive: “We called it…guilt-free energy.”
BKV isn’t alone. Companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron are pouring billions of dollars into businesses aimed at capturing and storing carbon emissions—arguing that such efforts go a long way toward neutralizing the greenhouse gases generated by their products.
At the recent United Nations climate summit in Dubai, many oil producers argued that the world will continue consuming fossil fuels for a long time and that abatement techniques are necessary to meet climate goals. […]
Two years into its own decarbonization plan, BKV is struggling to keep it—and its business—on track, suggesting how tough, costly and time-consuming such efforts are likely to be.
During the past year, as gas prices fell and debts from an acquisition piled up, BKV was poised to breach a debt covenant until lenders agreed to waive it. […]
Engie is buying all the emissions reductions associated with that storage, so BKV can’t use it to offset the footprint of its own operations. BKV will have to tap other companies’ CO2 to store in future wells. That could be more difficult, since those companies are likely to want a share in the CCS subsidies as well as the emissions reductions.
Read more here.
