UN credits ruling will not stop projects

Masdar manager says the UAE will continue its carbon capture and storage projects regardless of the decision by the world body.

The UAE will continue its carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects regardless of whether the UN decides to award credits for using the method to reduce emissions, a Masdar official says.

"We're not stopping our projects based on global agreements," Keristofer Seryani, who manages commercial development for the Abu Dhabi Government's clean energy company's carbon unit, told a CCS industry event in Dubai yesterday. Delegates from almost 200 countries will negotiate emission reductions, and the methods that can be used to claim credits, at the UN climate change talks in Cancun this week.

Masdar plans to build a 500km pipe network to move carbon dioxide captured at the Musaffah rolling mill of Emirate Steel Industries and other plants.

The gas will be injected into ageing oil fields in a process that will enable more crude to be recovered. Carbon dioxide would replace the natural gas used in other oil recovery projects.

"The oil and gas industry of the GCC stands to benefit because of the increasing momentum behind carbon capture storage/sequestration," said Armen Vartanian, the director of the environmental advisory company EcoVentures in Dubai.

Masdar also hopes to receive tradable credits for its solar and waste-heat projects under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) by next year, Reuters reported.

Mike Wilkins, the global head of carbon markets for Standard & Poor's, said it was unlikely the UN would include CCS in the carbon credit scheme.

"… you have the potential to flood the market," he said.

Other challenges for CCS include lack of a regulatory framework and unreliable methods for estimating storage capacity, said Dr Wolf Heidug, who covers CCS for the International Energy Agency (IEA). The projects also require investment, he said.