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KEATING -- A large-scale project to capture and store carbon for domestic production and energy needs has gained a significant investor.
OGCI Climate Investments announced it is investing in KeyState Natural Gas Synthesis, the first carbon capture and storage project in Pennsylvania.
The facility will be built in West Keating Township.
The Express previously reported in January 2021 that already on the site is a natural gas liquification plant operated by Frontier Natural Resources, who is also a partner in the KeyState project.
KeyState would build the plant to produce four primary products, which when combined with carbon capture and storage, result in low carbon, 'Blue' products:
-- Low carbon; Blue Hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and power generation.
-- Low-carbon and lower cost Blue Ammonia for a range of industrial, medical, and manufacturing uses.
-- Low-carbon nitrogen fertilizer, with an approximately 50% reduction in CO2 per ton of fertilizer.
-- Exhaust treatment for power plants and diesel engines that eliminates 90% of harmful emissions.
The Marcellus footprint is, in general, amenable for carbon storage in Pennsylvania. These same areas for producing gas are some of the same areas that carbon can be geographically stored. The drilling and carbon capture will be conducted on a private owned land of about 7,000 acres on the Winner tract in West Keating. The 7,000 acres is mostly boarded by state forest on the east and west.
OGCI released the following statement regarding the investment:
OGCI Climate Investments (OGCI CI), a specialist decarbonization investor, has invested in KeyState Natural Gas Synthesis (KeyState), a project company developing the first carbon capture and storage project in West Keating.
The project will integrate natural gas extraction, ammonia and automotive grade urea production, and CCS on a single 7,000-acre site.
"The KeyState project could deliver significant near-term emissions reduction by storing CO2, as well as avoiding methane and CO2 emissions thanks to onsite natural gas production and vertical integration, and reduced transportation distance of products," a release from OGCI said. "Once operational, the site will enable CO2 cluster development to permanently store over 300,000 tons of industrial CO2 per year."
"KeyState has the potential to enable CCS in Pennsylvania, as well as the vertically integrated model as an example of the circular lower-carbon economy," Betty Pun, Technology Principal, Process Engineering and Carbon Capture at OGCI Climate Investments, said. "Not only does the project deliver emissions reductions directly, but we also see a role for KeyState as a catalyst for CCS hub development in the region."
The first-of-a-kind project benefits from regional policies and incentives to encourage the responsible use of stranded natural gas, including decarbonization using CCS.
"Once operational, the KeyState project will pull natural gas, methane, up from a mile below the surface, separate the carbon and return the majority of it back deep underground, with the potential to permanently sequester more than 300,000 tons of CO2 per year," KeyState CEO Perry Babb said. "I believe that the future for America's natural gas is a lower-carbon future, combining gas production, CO2 extraction and permanent CO2 storage."
OGCI CI's investment in the project will be used to deliver pre-front end engineering and design (pre-FEED) activities for the natural gas synthesis plant and characterization of storage resources. These activities are intended to support the project ahead of further investment by additional partners at the FEED stage and beyond.
KeyState's project is estimated to cost around $400 million. However, the total annual economic output for the state of Pennsylvania will be around $260 million. The project will also be projected to have about 150-200 permanent jobs.
About OGCI
Climate
Investments
OGCI Climate Investments was formed by the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative, established by 12 oil & gas majors that account for around 30% of global operated production. OGCI aims to lead the industry's response to climate change through action and independently managed investments.
Climate Investments is an over $1 billion decarbonization investor. We seek to accelerate GHG reduction at scale by working closely with OGCI members, governments, customers and co-investors to maximize the global implementation of low-carbon solutions and impact. OCGI provides capital across the business lifecycle from the catalytic phase of technology and commercial validation through to scaling our investments' sector and geographic coverage. It has invested in 29 technologies and projects since 2017.
Among its investment activities, the company manages its Catalyst Fund I, and is an investor in China Climate Investments. Both funds invest in solutions to decarbonize under-invested GHG-intensive sectors within energy, industry, built environments/buildings and transportation. Climate Investments targets solutions that deliver near-term GHG impact in three areas: reducing methane, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and recycling or storing carbon dioxide.
About KeyState Natural Gas
Synthesis
KeyState Natural Gas Synthesis is a joint venture of KeyState, LLC/Developer and Frontier Natural Resources, Inc./Gas Supply & Geological Storage, and was born out of the dilemma of how to utilize a 7,000 acre, Northern Pennsylvania, stranded gas asset. The story actually began long before this with the vision of Dr. Forney (Fred) & Mary Winner in the 1970s to begin to assemble small parcels of land with the goal of creating commerce and jobs for this impoverished, remote region. Mary Winner, now in her 90s, says, "I am alive to fulfil my husband's vision." KeyState -- Pennsylvania will create hundreds of construction and long-term high-value jobs, hundreds of millions of dollars of annual local economic activity and release a new industry for rural Appalachia, fulfilling and exceeding Fred and Mary's vision.