Safe location outside Ring of Fire, huge carbon storage capacity will enable Sarawak to be major CCUS player

Dr Hazland (second right) is seen with others during the Baker Hughes Energy Conference and Annual Meeting in Italy on Jan 28–31.

KUCHING, Feb 1: Safe location outside the Ring of Fire, huge storage space in depleted oil wells and saline aquifer will turn Sarawak into a major player in carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) industry.

Deputy Minister of Energy and Environmental Sustainability Sarawak, Datuk Dr Hazland Hipni said Sarawak has opportunities to attract more investors.

“Further in-depth discussions by the ministry and international industry players shall be carried out on the rules and regulations pertaining to the transportation, injection and storage space monitoring,” he said in a statement today.

Dr Hazland said this when attending the Baker Hughes Energy Conference and Annual Meeting held in Italy on Jan 28–31.

He also said he was informed that CCUS may be the only way to address nearly 25 per cent of unavoidable point source industrial emissions due to fossil-fuel intensive industrial processes using natural gas or oil.

According to him, despite its long history and relative maturity, the application of carbon capture technology still involves further research.

He said emitters will need a mix of CCUS technologies to meet point source emission reduction needs and climate goals over the next decade, whether in the USA, China, Europe or Asia.

As such, he opined that Baker Hughes needs to continue investing in new promising technologies such as in the Direct Air Capture and Net Power.

“According to the IEA, 75 per cent of CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions reduction will come from technologies that are either in the prototype or demonstration phase and not yet commercially deployed,” he explained. — DayakDaily