Bison Low Carbon Ventures wins initial Alberta carbon storage agreement

Calgary-based Bison Low Carbon Ventures Inc. is a step closer to capturing carbon as Alberta looks to lead diversification of Canada’s energy sector.

Bison’s Meadowbrook Carbon Storage Hub — one of six projects selected by the province’s Energy and Minerals Department to explore carbon capture ­— has completed its evaluation phase and won an initial 15,360-hectare carbon sequestration agreement.

Carbon sequestration agreements grant regulatory rights to drill wells, conduct evaluation and testing, establish monitoring baselines, and inject captured carbon dioxide into deep subsurface formations within previously defined zones for sequestration, according to the province.

They also require the agreement holder to manage the development hub and the efficient use of pore space, ensure open access to affordable use of the hub, where appropriate, and provide just and reasonable cost recovery to the agreement holder.

Bison is the second hub to win a tenure award under the province’s Carbon Capture and Storage Hub initiative. The first was the Atlas Carbon Sequestration Hub, a partnership between Shell Canada Ltd. and ATCO Energy Solutions Ltd.

The agreement will facilitate the next several stages of the Alberta Energy Regulator project approval process. The company said in a release it expects the agreement will lead to initial sequestration operations in 2025, should all approvals go through.

The Meadowbrook Hub, north of Edmonton near Morinville, Alta., is designed to sequester a minimum of 3 million metric tonnes per annum (3MTpa) of CO2 when fully developed. The initial award will support the first two stages of development, with later stages and a future pipeline the subject of a subsequent application.

About 55,000 hectares will remain as an evaluation permit, and be available for conversion to an expanded agreement, as demand for sequestration services increases and reservoir performance is established, the company said.

The Meadowbrook Hub provides CO2 transportation and sequestration services on a “fee for service” basis. It’s intended to attract multiple industrial clients within the company’s catchment area.

Bison said it’s excited to be near the forefront of the delivery of carbon capture storage in Alberta, which looks to support its energy and emissions sensitive industries in curtailing emissions in a cost effective and safe manner through permanent sequestration in a deep saline aquifer.

Bison has a second carbon storage project in the evaluation phase in north Drumheller. That project will look to follow in the footsteps of the development of the Meadowbrook Hub, with increased demand.

By 2035, carbon capture, utilization and storage development is expected to generate approximately $35 billion in investment in Alberta and add up to 21,000 jobs.