Using Existing Oil and Gas Pipelines for Carbon Transport
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Oil and gas companies had to go through some tough fights to get their regional and cross-country pipelines built. They were built for natural gas, but as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) increases, that carbon has to go somewhere. Researchers are studying if those pipelines can be used for moving carbon—and if so, what retrofitting needs done.
A recent study, “Re-Stream—Study on the Reuse of Oil and Gas Infrastructure for Hydrogen and CCS in Europe” (a mouthful, but quite descriptive)—looked at 58,000 km of existing pipelines to evaluate their potential for carbon transportation.
The results were optimistic. Some onshore pipelines, and many offshore ones, are likely ready to be used. More testing is needed, but preliminary findings are promising.
Who’s going to pay for any retrofitting required? The asset owners, the CCUS project owner, and possibly even Uncle Sam. The recently passed infrastructure bill could give funding to build new pipelines and retrofit existing ones to transport CO2 for storage, sequestration, or usage.
We’re excited to see the pictures from carbon’s cross-country journey.
