Articles

Masdar to Capture CO2 in 2012, Also Partners with E.ON and Deutsche Bank

2010-01-19

Washington (CERR) January 19, 2010 – Abu Dhabi state owned Masdar not only said that it expects to start capturing carbon dioxide emissions in 2012, but also announced it has partnered with both E.ON and Deutsche Bank to form development and funding companies for sustainability projects.

The Masdar project is a state initiative to drive carbon mitigation and other environmentally sustainable technologies to commercialization in order to transition oil rich Abu Dhabi from a technology consumer to a technology producer.

The first 800,000 tons of carbon dioxide to be captured in 2012 is to come from a steel plant, Masdar’s director of carbon management, Sam Nader, reportedly told Reuters on Tuesday. He added that the contract for the carbon capture work is expected to be awarded this year.

The Masdar project is also preparing to build a pipeline network by 2015 to pump the CO₂ captured from a variety of industrial sources in Masdar City to onshore oil fields where it will be used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Masdar City is an experimental environmentally sustainable city under construction in Abu Dhabi.

The Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO), which runs the onshore crude fields for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC), is working with Masdar to build the CO₂ pipeline and injection infrastructure.

One of the sources of CO₂ is to be a natural-gas fed, hydrogen powered electrical generating plant to be built by Masdar and BP. Construction on that plant is scheduled to start this year.

Masdar Teams Up with E.ON and Deutsche Bank

Also on Tuesday, Masdar said it was joining with European utility company E.ON to establish E.ON Masdar Integrated Carbon (EMIC), a joint venture company focused on developing carbon emission reduction projects for the global market. Particular emphasis will be put on power generation as well as oil and gas projects in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

In a separate statement, Masdar said it was also joining with Deutsche Bank to form the DB Masdar Clean Tech Fund, which is to be co-managed by Masdar Venture Capital and DB Climate Change Advisors. The DB Masdar Clean Tech Fund seeks to build a diversified venture capital and private equity portfolio that will include clean tech and renewable energy companies.

The fund aims to invest primarily in expansion and later stage companies in the clean energy (power generation, storage), environmental resources (water, waste management) and energy and material efficiency (advanced materials, building and power grid efficiency, enabling technologies) sectors.