Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS)
About
White & Case is at the forefront of energy transition and is actively supporting clients on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology and projects worldwide.
Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is acknowledged by governments and intergovernmental organizations alike as being a key tool in achieving net-zero emissions, to the extent that both the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change both agree that full decarbonization will not be achieved without expanded deployment of CCUS projects.
CCUS captures and reuses or permanently stores CO2. Permanent storage of captured CO2 usually occurs in underground geological structures such as saline aquifers or depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs. CCUS technologies can be applied either as a means of capturing emissions from power plants or other industrial processes and effectively reusing the captured CO2 for such activities as enhanced oil recovery or permanently disposing of the emissions, or to capture CO2 directly from the atmosphere and create compressed CO2 which can either be used industrially or stored on a permanent basis.
CCUS is an emerging technology and projects are complex, expensive and often involve novel combinations of technologies operating over large distances. Successful investment in CCUS projects requires legal acumen and experience, in both transforming old assets or building new ones, to converting CO2 into market products to supply the energy market value chain. White & Case has a proven track record in delivering complex energy projects across the world and offers extensive experience in the relevant sectors.
The imperative to reduce carbon emissions and to find ways to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere is becoming ever more acute. As a result, there is a resurgent interest in CCUS across the world. Clients from the oil & gas, industrial manufacturing, power generation, gas transportation, infrastructure and financing sectors come to us for advice on everything from the permitting and real estate issues involved, through financing and construction, to the carbon-trading mechanisms that can support these huge investments.
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Experience
Mitsubishi CCUS advice in Australia, Canada, the United States and the UK
Representation of Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. regarding carbon capture storage (CCS) and other related activities required of the client as to CCS projects in Australia, Canada, the United States and the UK.
CarbonNet CSS project (Australia)
Advised the Victorian government on CCS regulations, environmental approvals and land assembly for the CarbonNet CCS project. CarbonNet bears striking similarities to projects being evaluated by OLCV, in that it involves the capture of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels industries and transporting and injecting them into a storage formation.
TEC project (US)
Advised the US Department Of Energy (“DOE”) in connection with the proposed US$3.5 billion TEC project in Illinois, an experimental coal gasification project with carbon capture and storage capabilities developed by Christian County Generation LLC (a joint venture between managing developer Tenaska and The ERORA Group) and we represented Air Products and Chemicals in connection with the modification of a cogeneration power plant in Port Arthur, Texas This was a state of the art US$431 million carbon capture and sequestration demonstration project.
Net Power's low-cost natural gas electric power system and carbon capture technology
Advised 8 Rivers Capital, LLC, in connection with the investment by Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, in the capital of Net Power LLC. The investment will advance the development of Net Power's low-cost, natural gas electric power system that generates no atmospheric emissions and inherently captures all carbon dioxide. As the inventor of the Allam Cycle, 8 Rivers Capital is also focusing on developing economic and sustainable production of hydrogen, as well as uses for the CO captured by the cycle, including the production of ethylene and other valuable products and the removal of sulphur impurities from gas streams.
Carbon management company
Advising a carbon management company in connection with the proposed development of a carbon sequestration joint venture in the United States.
