Shell Canada to pursue carbon sequestration, wants Canadian government help
As part of its plan to expand oil production from the northern Alberta tar sands, Shell Canada wants to capture and sequester carbon dioxide emissions from the facilities. Unfortunately, in spite of the high oil prices and associated profits which are prompting the expansion in the first place, Shell still wants some tax breaks to help pay for the sequestration program. CEO Clive Mather says the carbon capture program, would allow for expanding the oil production without increasing greenhouse gas emissions. So far the government has declined to provide any incentives, and Mather says they are missing a golden opportunity to become leaders in carbon storage. The question is why isn't Shell picking up this golden opportunity themselves, to demonstrate what good corporate citizens they can be?
[Source: Globe and Mail]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
A.Brien 5:20PM (11/21/2006)
I live in canada. It's full of natural gas. There is not a single car or truck that run on natural gas on
the roads. A natural gas engine almost not pollute at all and run as good as a gasoline engine or diesel.They produce diesel and gasoline by cooking tar sands with a lot of natural gas.
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Howard Lee Harkness 7:12PM (11/21/2006)
"The question is why isn't Shell picking up this golden opportunity themselves, to demonstrate what good corporate citizens they can be?"
Maybe that's because the purpose of a corporation is to make money for the stockholders, not to "be good". Sometimes "being good" can help with making money, but it's usually easier to get handouts from a government, especially if you have contributed some money to the right 'causes'.
Now, if the Canadian government merely said that in order for the oil companies to do business in Canada they have to develop and use technology for carbon sequestration, then that might actually happen -- maybe. However, politicians (usually) know better than to make any such career-ending move.
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