Cenovus Energy CEO shared his positive views on the future of carbon capture and even projected it may be the ‘next boom’ in the oil industry.
The energy company has announced its plans for 2022, a strong highlight of which is to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by over a third by 2035.
The feat will involve expanding the capital spending program and examining several carbon capture projects. This is in line with the two primary themes for Canadian oil sands operators as we head into the new year.
Namely, these are increasing cash flow levels to pay back shareholders and slashing emissions.
The reason why these two go hand-in-hand is because investors have placed a mandate to focus on both.
The Calgary-based oil company plans on maintaining its overall oil production at the equivalent of roughly 800,000 barrels per day with only some additional spending on its oil sands operations.
Relevant: Oil Sand Giants in Canada Announce Net-Zero Goal
As the company’s CEO Alex Pourbaix shared, there is no longer a need to chase major growth phases in this area. Instead, Cenovus will be focused on increasing upstream production, while also limiting CO2 emissions.
Last year, Cenovus officially adopted the target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, along with five other oil sands producers, including Imperial Oil and Suncor Energy.
The alliance has proposed the construction of a CO2 trunk line that would link over 20 oil sands facilities in the province to a storage hub buried deep underground.
Relevant: Svante Gets Investment Boost from Suncor Energy
Such a collaboration is unprecedented and shows the collective commitment to tackling the climate crisis and supplying the world with net-zero oil.
Cenovus and the other companies in the alliance are now also relying on Trudeau’s government promise of a federal tax credit for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).
