The Alberta oil and natural gas industry entered 2023 with plans to use carbon capture and storage (CCS) to score an 18-fold jump in discarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from production, according to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER).

Emissions

The CER disclosed commitments to increase CCS disposal to 56 million tons (Mt) per year by seven projects. The proposals secured provincial rights last year to bid for underground storage “pore space,” which belongs to the Alberta government.

Initial performance already counters fossil fuel foes that claim the technology fails. Since 2014, when Alberta CCS began as a life-extending injection of 280,000 tons/year into aging wells, storage capacity grew 11-fold to 3 Mt, according to CER records.

The rights grant field surveys led by the