Hilcorp Partners with Japanese Firms to Study Carbon Sequestration
The signing ceremony for the joint study agreement on October 11 at the 4th Japan-U.S. CCUS Working Group.
Photo Credit: Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.
The largest natural gas producer in Cook Inlet is getting serious about putting gas back into the ground. Hilcorp Alaska signed an agreement with two Japanese corporations to study the feasibility of a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) value chain, storing carbon dioxide emissions from Japan in underground reservoirs in Alaska.
Burying Japanese Gas
Sumitomo Corporation and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” LINE) signed the joint study agreement with Hilcorp, the first cross-border effort toward CCS commercialization between the United States and Japan. The feasibility study will involve the three companies investigating how to aggregate CO2 in Japan, transport liquefied CO2 in tanker ships to Alaska, and then store it underground.
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December 2024
Sumitomo has a history of working in Alaska, developing the Pogo gold mine near Delta Junction before selling the asset to Australian company Northern Star Minerals in 2018. “K” LINE is a shipping company with a fleet of 500 vessels.
Sumitomo, “K” LINE, and Hilcorp have decided to proceed with the study while the governments of Japan and the United States are considering the feasibility of CCS in Alaska. Both governments co-hosted a working group on CCS on October 11, where the signing ceremony for the joint study agreement was held.
According to the agreement, each company will use its own knowledge and experience to conduct technical research on CO2 storage—including storage capacity, requirements for liquefied CO2 vessels, and the business environment—to explore the feasibility of this project.
The total storage capacity of the CCS project is expected to be 50 gigatons, equivalent to Japan’s CO2 emissions over fifty years. Alaska is recognized as a promising base for CCS projects, not only because the data accumulated through oil and gas development can be used to implement CO2 storage, but also because it has existing infrastructure such as pipelines, port facilities, and the liquified natural gas terminal in Nikiski, which pioneered natural gas exports to Japan in the ‘60s until it was idled in 2017.
The companies cite the opportunity for CCS in Alaska codified by House Bill 50, legislation requested by Governor Mike Dunleavy to license, lease, and administer CCS resources. Passed by the Alaska House and Senate in May, the governor signed the bill into law last week, two days before Hilcorp signed the agreement with the Japanese companies.
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