Oil and gas companies have the competency to do carbon capture and storage (CCS) but whether they should do, is another question. If you are a very large company you are probably already involved in a lot of projects. But for smaller ones, they don't necessarily need to make a good story for the media or investors. They just want to make a return on their investment. So how does CCS fit into this?

Ideally, you could see a market for hydrogen fuel, or products made from it. It would be ideal if this market price would include the costs in carbon capture, perhaps to put your gas production through a reformer to make hydrogen with CO2 as a by-product, would be worthwhile.

Perhaps your investors would like to see a carbon capture project as part of your oil and gas developments - but we gather some 'ESG' investors may not want to reduce their returns for a CCS project. They just might invest in it on the margin. So it may not make you an obvious financial return but it just might get investment $’s you don't get otherwise.

You could do what many companies do, and join a consortium in developing a CCS to be involved, but not actually plan to spend any money until the regulations change, such as with carbon pricing or the carbon price becomes sufficiently high to justify a CCS investment.

CCS in theory could remove one of the biggest 'non-sustainable' aspects of oil and gas production. But it is very expensive. How companies will have a business model to pay for it is a challenge not yet solved for many.

If you are interested in discussing a methane emissions management / assessment project, click here for more details. 

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Future Energy Partners