Shells carbon capture plant releases more CO2 than it captures, study claims

The UK multinational oil and gas firm's carbon capture facility, located in Alberta, Canada, has averted 5 million tons of carbon dioxide from breaking free into the atmosphere since 2015.

However, Global Witness claim its investigation shows that at the same time it has emitted 7.5 million tons of greenhouse gases.

The emission figure compares to the carbon footprint of 1.2 million diesel vehicles annually, the study added.

The oil giant rebutted the study analysis by Global Witness stating it was “simply wrong”, CNBC reported citing a spokesman for Shell.

While the carbon capture and storage industry vowed a 90 percent carbon capture rate, the Global Witness study indicates that only 48 percent of Quest’s carbon emissions were, in fact, captured.

The Quest plant poses a potential solution to the energy transition and is designed to capture around 33 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, the Shell spokesman claimed.