A new deal is said to have the potential to create hundreds of jobs in the Grande Prairie region. Nauticol Energy has entered into an agreement with Enhance Energy to capture CO2 from its proposed methanol facility.
The agreement lays out plans for the two companies to work together to capture and store up to one million tonnes of CO2 every year from the facility. It is set to be built on property formerly owned by International Paper near the Weyerhaeuser pulp mill south of the City of Grande Prairie.
Nauticol CEO Mark Tonner says the addition of a carbon capture component leans into its low emission design.
“Partnering with Enhance on CO2 capture and sequestration changes the game of what low carbon methanol production at world scale will be from this point on.”
Under the deal, Nauticol will be responsible for capturing the carbon while Enhance will take care of the development, construction, and operation of the sequestration system beyond that.
Capital investment is still needed to actualize the Grande Prairie area project, which is pegged at more than $2 billion.
In a release, the energy companies claim the partnership will speed up development for both parties, as well as create up to 5,000 jobs during construction and hundreds more while the plant is in operation. Initial projections for the methanol facility were that the building was expected to create more than 1,000 local jobs, with a further 400 jobs required on-site when construction is complete.
Earlier this month, Nauticol inked another deal with Fortrec Chemicals and Petroleum out of Singapore to market and distribute Nauticol’s methanol from the Asian country.