Mexico just registered its first Clean Development Mechanism with the United Nations under a collaboration between Pemex and Statoil to reduce gas flaring at the onshore Tres Hermanos oil field in Mexico. Statoil said 26 October 2010 the registration is the result of an effort to cut CO2 emissions by curbing gas flaring.
Pemex' Juan Arturo Hernández Carrera, VP for the northern region with Pemex E&P, said the CDM registration 'demonstrates our commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sets the basis for the development of other reduction projects in the northern region.'
Under the Kyoto protocol, companies can earn certified emissions reductions (CERs) that then become tradable by investing in emission reduction projects in countries without mandatory emission reduction goals such as Mexico. The two companies have been collaborating since 2004 to identify CDM projects.
Statoil brings its Norwegian Continental Shelf technical experience and Pemex works to voluntarily reduce carbon emissions and improve its energy efficiency. Pemex expects to avoid emitting an average of 83,000 tonnes of CO2 per year over a 10-year period, and to receive the same amount of CERs from the United Nations. Statoil can buy from Pemex the CERs that the project yields.
The CDM project is intended to eliminate three of the gas flare batteries and to install a new gas processing and treatment plant as well as to build the pipelines needed to bring the recovered gas to market. Pemex will start the tendering process to sign the engineering, procurement and construction contract for this project on January 2011.
Pemex will solely invest, own and operate the facility, which is expected to start up at the end of the next year. Statoil has been responsible of preparing the necessary documentation to obtain the CDM registration by UN. Statoil will also make sure the project approves the yearly verifications and receives the certified emission reductions to be bought from Pemex.
Pemex has been producing oil from the Tres Hermanos oil field in Veracruz state for over 60 years. OE
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