REGINA - The Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC) has been approved for $100,000 in funding from the Regional Innovation Ecosystems (RIE) Program through Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan).
The grant is to help the PTRC establish and market a carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) course, which will become an important tool for disseminating information and knowledge about the important suite of technologies that constitute CCUS.
Since the Government of Canada announced its capital investment tax credit in the April 2022 budget for new CCUS projects, the PTRC said it has been fielding dozens of requests for both comprehensive and targeted information sessions on how to develop projects.
“The requests for detailed information on all the various parts of the CCUS chain – from capture, to transport, to injection, to storage and monitoring, and ultimately to utilization – have been arriving almost daily,” said PTRC president and CEO Ranjith (Ran) Narayanasamy.
“We realized all of our accumulated knowledge over the past 22 years of CCUS research could be a valuable asset both for ourselves and for potential client organizations.”
The course, which will be based on a modular approach to instruction, will take core groups of presentations, and adjust them to the particular needs of individual organizations. Larger industrial partners may require broad and detailed explanations of all the components of a CCUS project, whereas smaller clients like environmental not‐for‐profits or regulatory bodies might need more tailored information for their specific areas of interest.
“It’s possible that an oil field services company, for example, might only want information on how its drilling or monitoring activities relate to CO2 storage,” notes Narayanasamy. “That would mean a course quite different than a steel manufacturer or a cement firm, which might want to know not just about storage, but about capture and transport as well.”
“Over the years, our government has collaborated with PTRC in various aspects of its CCUS research,” said Dan Vandal, Minister for PrairiesCan.
“Today’s investment supports the logical next step of making that knowledge and expertise available to companies looking to take advantage of the new capital investment tax credit announced in last April’s federal budget. The CCUS investment tax credit is a key part of the government’s broader plan to work with industry towards the goal of decarbonization.”
The PTRC plans to work with external experts to create parts of the course that cover the full CCUS chain, but possesses significant knowledge of its own to forge the links in the CCUS chain.
Clients in both the public and private sectors have already expressed interest in the course, and the first sessions will be offered in spring of 2023. The PTRC is also in discussions with the University of Regina about adapting the course into an accredited program offered through its Faculty of Extension.
