Late last year at the Global Refining Strategies Summit in Houston, major industry executives talked about new Washington rules on CO2 emissions not in terms of “if,” but “when.” If you aren’t in the oil and gas business and blinked during the last three weeks during the healthcare battle on Capitol Hill, you might have missed the news:
March 4, 2010 WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency intends to require that power plants, refineries and other major sources of global-warming pollution get permits beginning in 2011 that would require them to cut emissions, the agency’s leader said Wednesday.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the EPA wants to regulate sources emitting more than 75,000 tons a year of polluting gaseous oxides (CO2, etc.) over the next three years. Exactly how the EPA intends to monitor and regulate these emissions is the singular issue not lost on the environmental and industry lobbies in D.C. Get ready for a knock-down drag out over what the country’s enviro-political landscape will or should look like for years to come.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
But stepping back, here’s what the EPA has done: it has proposed that oil, gas and other entities that emit CO2 and related pollutants be added to an existing list of companies that report their emissions levels yearly. One pollutant cited by the EPA is methane, a gas generated by the petroleum industry that traps 20 percent more heat than carbon and is considered a major factor in climate change. Another area the EPA is interested in is CO2 injection or “flooding” – a method used by producers to push oil out of the ground.
“Gathering this information is the first step toward reducing greenhouse emissions and fostering innovative technologies for the clean energy future,” said Jackson.
The industries cited will be asked to begin recording their emissions for a report submitted in 2012.
Research & Development
SWAPSOL Sulfur Cycle
Swapsol Corp. may have a potential solution that may make the worry over CO2 emissions a thing of the past.
SWAPSOL is developing commercial processes around a newly discovered chemical reaction verified to reduce hydrogen sulfide (H2S) below detectable levels while reacting with carbon dioxide (CO2) to form water, sulfur and carsuls, a carbon-sulfur polymer.
The Stenger-Wasas Process (SWAP) stands to fundamentally simplify sulfur removal technology as it consumes carbon dioxide in an exothermic reaction under relatively mild process conditions.
SWAPSOL will again present its science to the international oil and gas industry at the Global Refining Summit May 17-19 in Rotterdam. It returns to Houston October 26-27 to meet with industry at the Global Refining Strategies Summit.
H2S, sometimes known as “sewer gas,” is the oil and gas industry’s enemy No. 1. A chief part of the refining process is removing sulfur and H2S from raw streams to be able to bring refined natural gas to market. So yes, natural gas should play a fundamental role in any low-carbon policy proposed. But this is possible only if more attention is paid to technological advances in refining it.
As we look toward 
But there is obviously another force at work that will likely impact the world markets outside he supply question – Congress is considering legislation to mandate lower emissions from industry either through European “cap and trade” schemes or an outright tax. Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson said in a speech at an APEC summit in Singapore that he advocates for a carbon tax rather than carbon trading.
