SK Earthon Enhances Petroleum Development and Carbon Capture and Storage Capabilities
SK Earthon and Advanced Aquatic Technology (AAT) Co., Ltd., a Korean ocean exploration company, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to strengthen technological capabilities in the fields of petroleum production and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
The entire process of capturing, transporting, and injecting carbon dioxide into an underground storage facility is referred to as carbon capture and storage (CCS). Carbon dioxide capture, preprocessing, transportation, and storage are part of the process.
According to the conditions of the MOU, SK Earthon and AAT aim to share and improve their respective petroleum development and CCS technologies, as well as participate in long-term cooperation in terms of monitoring after storage in the course of CCS processing.
By integrating SK Earthon's foreign petroleum development infrastructure, offshore exploration and drilling, and ATT's ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) technology, the two companies hope to improve resource exploration accuracy.
It is expected that the OBS technology will be utilised to monitor stored carbon dioxide leakage if this technological collaboration is expanded to the CCS business.
An OBS is a piece of survey equipment that can monitor the seabed's surfaces without having to go underwater and take measurements. It detects reflected or refracted waves on seabed surfaces to assess subsurface geological features, among other things.
This MOU is particularly significant since it encourages a win-win relationship in Korea between a large corporation and a small business that is aided by specialised technology. It also contributes to developing an ecosystem for Korea's environmentally friendly industry by opening the door to collaboration in the CCS field.
SK Earthon has been pursuing the adoption of ESG management in the framework of major businesses' environmental and social duty as corporate citizens since September last year.
The company has tried to build cooperative relations with minor high-tech enterprises in petroleum, CCS, artificial intelligence (AI) etc.
AAT has conducted substantial maritime investigations and research using cutting-edge underwater acoustic technology and equipment since its establishment in 2004. The company, in particular, is the only one in Korea with its OBS technology, making it the most advanced, and it has also completed an offshore carbon dioxide storage demonstration project.
Han Young-ju, Head of E&P Tech. Centre, SK Earthon, said: "SK Earthon will continue to seek out and collaborate with technologically advanced small enterprises with core technologies in petroleum development and CCS. As a result, we will seek various business opportunities to execute the “Carbon to Green” Financial Story while continuing to improve the overseas resource development ecosystem."
Source: Korea IT Times
