Qatar has commissioned a carbon capture and storage plant and aims to sequester 5 million tonnes of carbon from its liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities by 2025, said energy minister Said Al-Kaabi.
Al-Kaabi, also the chief executive of Qatar Petroleum, said the existence of the plant had not been announced before.
"We have successfully commissioned a facility in Qatar ... It's the largest carbon recovery and sequestration facility in the region," Al-Kaabi told a conference in London, adding that it had a 2.1 million tonne per year capacity.
Qatar has for years been the world's largest LNG producer and exporter. It is aiming to build a large extension to its sprawling LNG facilities to increase production by 40%.
Al-Kaabi said the design of this expansion has taken into account carbon capture and storage.
He also said QP was looking into using carbon in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) which it has been piloting in its oilfields.
EOR improves oil production by pumping gas -- in this case carbon -- into a field to increase its depleted pressure.
"That's a big project; we're building large pipelines across the country ... Maybe 10 years down the road we will have enhanced oil recovery."
