About CCUS

Playing an important and diverse role in meeting global energy and climate goals

About this report

Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) refers to a suite of technologies that can play an important and diverse role in meeting global energy and climate goals. CCUS involves the capture of CO2 from large point sources, including power generation or industrial facilities that use either fossil fuels or biomass for fuel. The CO2 can also be captured directly from the atmosphere. If not being used on-site, the captured CO2 is compressed and transported by pipeline, ship, rail or truck to be used in a range of applications, or injected into deep geological formations (including depleted oil and gas reservoirs or saline formations) which trap the CO2 for permanent storage.
What is CCUS?

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CCUS Chain Overview Graphic
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CCUS Chain Overview Graphic
Where is CCUS happening?

Today, CCUS facilities around the world have the capacity to capture more than 40 MtCO2 each year. Some of these facilities have been operating since the 1970s and 1980s, when natural gas processing plants in the Val Verde area of Texas began supplying CO2 to local oil producers for enhanced oil recovery operations.

CCUS facilities in operation by application, 1980-2021

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Since these early projects, CCUS deployment has expanded to more regions and more applications. The first large-scale CO2 capture and injection project with dedicated CO2 storage and monitoring was commissioned at the Sleipner offshore gas facility in Norway in 1996. The project has now stored more than 20 MtCO2 in a deep saline formation located around 1 km under the North Sea.