By Nina Chestney
LONDON - Exxon Mobil has signed a memorandum of understanding to participate in a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Scotland, the U.S. oil and gas producer said on Friday.
The Acorn CCS project plans to capture and store approximately 5-6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2030 from gas terminals at the St Fergus complex at Peterhead, which includes ExxonMobil's joint venture gas terminal.
Once expanded, it aims to store more than 20 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year by the mid-2030s, Exxon Mobil said.
"ExxonMobil has more than 30 years’ experience in CCS technology and is advancing plans for multiple new CCS opportunities around the world," said Joe Blommaert, president of low carbon solutions at ExxonMobil.
CCS traps emissions and buries them underground but is not yet at the commercialisation stage.
The Acorn project is being led by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Storegga Geotechnologies, Pale Blue Dot Energy, with support from Macquarie Group with a 21.5% shareholding and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC with a 15.4% shareholding.
Exxon, which posted a loss of $22.4 billion last year, is under pressure from shareholder groups to shift to cleaner fuels.
Exxon has pledged to increase spending on low-carbon projects and lower the intensity of its greenhouse gas emissions.
