Shell makes FID for Polaris, Atlas carbon capture projects in Canada
(WO) – Shell Canada Products, a subsidiary of Shell plc, announced the Final Investment Decision (FID) for Polaris, a carbon capture project at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park, Scotford in Alberta, Canada. Polaris is designed to capture approximately 650,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually from the Shell-owned Scotford refinery and chemicals complex.
In addition to the Polaris FID, Shell announced an FID to proceed with the Atlas Carbon Storage Hub, in partnership with ATCO EnPower. The first phase of Atlas will provide permanent underground storage for CO₂ captured by the Polaris project. A future phase of the Atlas Carbon Storage Hub, that could potentially store carbon for the partners and third parties, is subject to a future investment decision.
Polaris and Atlas will build on the success of the Quest carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility at Scotford, which has safely captured and stored more than nine million tonnes of CO₂ since 2015 that would otherwise have been released into the atmosphere.
Polaris (100% Shell-owned) will have the potential to reduce Scope 1 CO₂ emissions at Shell’s Scotford refinery by capturing and storing up to 40% and by up to 22% at the chemicals complex.
CO₂ emissions captured by Polaris will be sent to the Atlas Hub via an approximately 22-km pipeline to two storage wells. CO₂ will be stored there approximately two km underground in the Basal Cambrian Sands, the same formation used to successfully store CO₂ from the Quest CCS facility.
Polaris will leverage lessons learned from the Shell-operated Quest CCS facility (10% Shell-owned), located at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park, Scotford near Edmonton, Alberta, adjacent to Shell’s refinery and chemicals plant (100% Shell-owned). Since 2015, Quest has captured and stored about one million tonnes a year of CO₂ from the Scotford upgrader.
"Carbon capture and storage is a key technology to achieve the Paris Agreement climate goals,” said Huibert Vigeveno, Shell’s Downstream, Renewable and Energy Solutions Director. “The Polaris and Atlas projects are important steps in reducing emissions from our own operations.”
Shell plans to invest $10-$15 billion across 2023-2025 to support the development of low-carbon energy solutions including e-mobility, low-carbon fuels, renewable power generation, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage.
