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Archive for the 'Carbon capture & storage' Category

Carbon Capture and Storage – IEA Meeting

By Richard B Macrory, on 7 December 2016

Experts from round the world attended the annual meeting of the CSS Regulatory Network held in Paris at the end of November. The meeting, the eighth in the series organized by the International Energy Agency, provided a forum for comparingunnamed regulatory and policy developments in carbon capture and storage. Mainly for financial reasons, CCS has largely stalled in Europe, but this year’s meeting was marked by a strong presence from China, Indonesia, and Japan.

Professor Macrory chaired one of the international sessions sessions and was respondent on the session exploring liability issues. Another core participant was Ian Havercroft, formerly coordinator of the UCL Carbon Capture Legal Programme, and now based at the Global Carbon Capture Storage Institute in Australia where he is Global Lead – Legal and Regulatory.

 

Further details :  https://www.iea.org/workshops/8th-ccs-regulatory-network-meeting.html

Carbon Storage and Long-Term Viability of Northsea Production

By Richard B Macrory, on 19 June 2015

Professor Macrory took part in a workshop at the European Parliament in Brussels on 17 June exploring issues concerned with achieving a low carbon future for the North Sea.  The workshop, chaired by Ian Duncan MEP and organized by SSCS (Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage) was attended by parliamentarians, industry and non-governmental grBRU Brussels European Parliament building boups.  Enhanced Oil Recovery is a long established technology used in the United States for extracting the maximum amount of oil from a reservoir by pumping CO2 into the well. It has not yet used in the North Sea, but if combined with the long term of storage of CO2  could provided a much needed  economic incentive for CCS.  But it is not without controversy and the workshop explored issues of public engagament and perception, comparative balances (i.e. by allowing more oil extraction do you simply wipe out any benefits of the stored CO2? ), and the security of storage.  Professor Macrory focussed on legal issues likely to be associated with the approach, building on the Report that he and colleagues at the Centre wrote for SCCS last year : SCCS-CO2-EOR-JIP-WP6-Legal

International Carbon Capture Workshop

By Richard B Macrory, on 20 May 2015

3-carbon-capture-and-storage-processProfessor Richard Macrory was a contributor to the recent international workshop of liability issues and carbon capture and storage organized in Paris by the International Energy Agency and the Global Carbon Capture Storage Institute.  Professor Macrory and Ian Havercroft of the GCCSI and Hon. Senior Research Associate with the Centre presented key findings from their study Legal Liability and CCS – A Comparative Perspective  published by the GCCSI last year, with Professor Macrory examining transfer mechanisms to the state.    Following the workshop the IEA held the 7th International CCS Regulatory Network Meeting, attended by government officials and regulators , industry, and academic and private sector lawyers working in this field.  Professor Macrory chaired the session on the implementation and review of the EU CCS Directive, and gave a presentation on the challenges of regulating   CCS and Enhanced Oil Recovery using CO2, based on his report  published last year, Legal Status of CO2 – Enhanced Oil Recovery

World Forum Energy Summit – Enhanced Oil Recovery and Carbon Capture

By Richard B Macrory, on 29 January 2015

 

abu-dhabi-mosque-sheikh-zayed_36868_600x450-1Enhanced oil recovery is a technique for extracting the maximum amount of oil or gas from wells, and has been extensively used in the United States.  Carbon dioxide is the preferred choice of substance used in the process, and industry and governments are increasingly considering whether EOR can be combined with long term storage of carbon dioxide for climate change purposes in order to make the whole process more financially attractive.  Professor Macrory of the Centre for Law and the Environment was invited by the International Energy Agency to participate in a workshop held in Abu Dhabi on January  20 2015 as part of the World Forum Energy Summit. Professor Macrory’s presentation focussed on legal issues associated with combined EOR and long term storage,particularly on issues of classification and acceptance criteria of CO2 streams.

International Climate Change in Texas

By Richard B Macrory, on 29 October 2014

photoRichard Macrory, director of the UCL carbon capture Legal Programme, spoke at GHGT-12 in Austin Texas on October 6. More than 1200 experts from all round the world attend the conference which is held every two years under the auspices of the Internal Energy Agency.

 

Richard Macrory and Ian Havercroft (Global carbon Carbon Storage Institute, and Hon Senior Research Associate, UCL) presented their new report on legal liability issues relating to carbon capture and storage.

http://www.globalccsinstitute.com/publications/legal-liability-and-carbon-capture-and-storage-comparative-perspective

New CCS Legal Liability Report

By Richard B Macrory, on 29 October 2014

COVERThe Global Carbon Capture Institute and the UCL Carbon Capture Legal Programme have published a new report examining legal liability issues connected with carbon capture and storage.

Legal Liability and Carbon Capture and Storage authored by Ian havercroft (GCCSI) and Professor Richard Macrory (UCL) argues that legal liability issues remain critically important for the commercial development of carbon capture and storage. A well-characterised legal and regulatory regime should perform a number of functions – it can clarify operators’ potential liabilities, promote high standards, and help to encourage investment; and can raise public confidence in the technology.

The report focuses on three jurisdictions with a well developed legal regime and governments broadly supportive of CCS (Alberta, Canada; Victoria, Australia, and the United Kingdom within the European Union), and explores the legal principles and issues relevant to civil (tort) liability, liability under emissions trading regimes, and administrative liability. and liability for emissions trading.

The report notes that each regime contains provisions concerning the transfer of liabilities to the state following cessation of storage activities, but The three regimes offer quite contrasting approaches when considering the criteria necessary for effecting a transfer; including the necessary time-limits post-cessation of operations before a transfer may take place, and the actual responsibilities and liabilities that may be transferred.

 

http://www.globalccsinstitute.com/publications

European Meeting on Carbon Capture Law

By Richard B Macrory, on 11 September 2014

photo
Richard Macrory, director of the UCL Carbon Capture Legal Programme, was the only legal academic participating in a stakeholders’ meeting held  in Brussels on 8 September 2014 as part of the European Commission’s review of the 2009 EU Directive on Carbon Capture and Storage.

Participants included representatives from industry, environmental NGOs,and organizations such as the International Energy Agency and the British Geological Society. There was a general consensus that this was not right time to start amending the actual Directive, but that existing Commission Guidance, especially on financial instruments could be revisted  to provide more flexibility.  The key issues concerned the effectiveness of underlying policy rather than the legislation.

In the same week, it was announced by the President-Elect of the European Commission that in future one Commissioner would be in charge of both Energy Policy and Climate Change Policy, thus effectively getting rid of the separate Directorate on Climate Change and Action set up in 2010.  Many will now be watching to see whether this potentially significant change has a real  impact on the EU’s approach to Carbon Capture and Policy.

Offshore carbon dioxide storage in the UK

By Ben M Milligan, on 13 April 2014

Ben Milligan’s paper, entitled ‘Planning for offshore CO2 storage: Law and policy in the United Kingdom’ is now available online in Volume 48 of Marine Policy.

‘Offshore CO2 storage’ refers to the injection of liquefied CO2 into deep geological formations beneath the seabed (e.g. depleted oil and gas reservoirs, and saline aquifers) for the purpose of storing it there on a permanent basis. The storage in this manner of captured CO2 emissions from industrial installations and power plants has attracted considerable scientific and technical interest as a potential mitigation response to climate change. A key issue facing policymakers in several countries is how to reconcile policy commitments to develop offshore CO2 storage with other competing – and potentially conflicting – uses of the marine environment. With a view to informing policy responses to this issue, Ben’s paper presents a case study of legal and policy frameworks concerning offshore CO2 storage in United Kingdom. The paper maps key design features of the United Kingdom׳s framework for marine permitting and planning, appraising the extent to which they enable orderly development of offshore CO2 storage in a manner consistent with relevant high-level policy objectives.

KCL and UCL CCS Conference Report

By Eva R Van Der Marel, on 25 March 2014

CCS Conferene Cover ImageOn the 6th of March 2014, King’s College, in collaboration with UCL, organised a conference on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) (see our previous post for more details and a short summary of the event). The Conference Report, including the day’s programme and a list of delegates, is now available and can be downloaded from the following link: CCS Conference Report (KCL & UCL). For copies of speakers’ presentations and more information on events at King’s College in general, please click here.

A successful conference on CCS – 6 March 2014, London

By Eva R Van Der Marel, on 11 March 2014

KCLresizedOn the 6th of March 2014, King’s College, in collaboration with UCL, organised a conference on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), held in Senate House (London).

With contributions from government, industry and academia, discussions were lively, informed,  and encouraged  a sense of urgency to get CCS on track. Speakers included the Government Chief Scientist, Sir Mark Walport, Dan Byles MP, Prof. Stuart Haszeldine of University of Edinburgh, Ward Goldthorpe (Crown Estate) , David Kennedy (Climate Change Committee) Ashley Ibbett (Department of Energy and Climate Change), Ian Havercroft (Global Carbon Capture Storage Institute) and many others. (more…)