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Information about the company's position on climate change and on CO2 sequestration is given at http://www.shell.com/climate.

The Shell position on CO2 capture and sequestration

The Sequestration Of Carbon Dioxide February 2004

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) sequestration is the storage of CO2 within some medium for the long term as an alternative to emitting that CO2 to the atmosphere today. It is an important option within a portfolio of technologies the world has available to address climate change. Direct sequestration makes possible the production of hydrogen from fossil fuels without CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. This means it may play an important role in facilitating the transition to a low or zero-carbon fuel energy system that uses hydrogen as an energy carrier.

• Geological sequestration involves the injection of CO2 into subsurface geological formations. If the CO2 source is not of sufficient purity, separation must take place first;
• Biological sequestration utilizes the natural carbon cycle to store CO2 within plant material through land-use change, afforestation and reforestation. It cannot be used to manage the direct emissions from a facility, but is used indirectly to sequester an equivalent amount of CO2 at another location and at some other time. Biological sequestration is an important option for the world to consider, but given the lack of alignment with our core business expertise our involvement is likely to be limited. However, we recognize that biological sequestration could be an additional benefit associated with the preservation of eco-systems at our operating and new project sites.
• Surface mineralization involves the chemical fixation of carbon dioxide into inorganic carbonates that can be used for building materials and other long life goods. Shell is active in the development of technologies in this field.
• Ocean sequestration involves the deposition of high purity CO2 into the deep part of the oceans where it can remain in liquid state at low temperature and under high pressure. This is a technology that is still in its infancy, requiring considerable development and resolution of issues, including ecosystem impact and the longevity of storage.

Shell supports and is involved in the development and deployment of geological sequestration as a safe, reliable and ultimately cost-effective mechanism to reduce industrial CO2 emissions.

• The technology required for geological sequestration is proven and in common use in the oil and gas industry for enhanced oil recovery. This fits with our business and builds on our strength in understanding subsurface structures and processes;
• Wide-spread, large storage capacity has been identified that is sufficient to store significant amounts of global CO2 emissions over the next century;
• Research has shown that CO2 can be securely stored for thousands of years or longer, with ongoing work and field trials to further clarify the risks involved.
• To help society make an informed choice about the role that geological CO2 sequestration might play in a portfolio of measures to mitigate climate change we are:
• Working with national geological services, research institutions and other energy companies to develop the science and methodology that is required to comprehensively assess the environmental performance of geological sequestration. Examples are;
  
  
• In the Unites States, the West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership and the CO2 Capture Project, which completed work at the end of 2003.
• The Australian based CO2CRC programme.
  
  
• Conducting, with the support of the European Commissions and in association with Geo-Research Center Potsdam and other partners, a CO2 sequestration field test near Berlin that aims to provide detailed insight into the subsurface behavior and movement of CO2; the CO2 will be generated from the emission-neutral combustion of biomass.
• Studying novel ways to manage natural subsurface chemical reactions with a view to further increase the safety and security of CO2 storage.

Our work on sequestration is complemented by the development of technology for the cost-effective separation of CO2 from combustion sources. In addition, we support practical actions by governments to remove non-technical barriers that could impede the deployment of geological sequestration. These involve the inclusion of geological sequestration in national and international greenhouse gas inventory and trading schemes, and establishing a legal and regulatory framework for sequestration.

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