The Norwegian International Programme for Petroleum Management and Administration ( PETRAD) organized a seminar on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) which was held in Bali from 12-14 September, 2012. The event gathered experts from government agencies, national oil companies and academia from East- and S.E. Asia.
Experts shared current state-of-the-art knowledge about CCS, and discussed opportunities for utilizing CCS in the region. Participants came from Indonesia, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, PNG, Timor-Leste, as well as presenters from Australia, UK and Norway.
The new Ambassador to the Norwegian Embassy in Indonesia, Stig Traavik opened the seminar by addressing that, CO2 capture and storage will play an essential role in the development of a more sustainable energy system for the future, and as a possible way of mitigating climate change. Furthermore, he stressed that the technological challenges involved with CCS can only be achieved through broad international cooperation. Governments, research institutions, the energy industry, international and national organisations must all be actively engaged. He furthermore indicated that the Norwegian embassy is willing to explore ways to actively support such R&D activities. Concerning the issue of a global CO2 tax, he argued that such a mechanism might offer the needed incentives to implement CO2 reductions of the scale that is required.
Ambassador Stig Traavik also shared some of the lessons learned by the Norwegian oil & gas sector, and argued that knowledge gained from the Norwegian Technology Centre Mongstad will prepare the ground for more CO2 capture initiatives to combat climate change.
