Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. plans to develop a carbon-capture business and wants to lead a project to trap and store pollution from coal-fired power plants in oil wells in northeastern China.
"Our research techniques for analyzing geological layers that we have acquired through our oil-exploration business will be well utilized," Managing Director Shoichi Ishii said in an interview. He also heads Japan CCS Co., a venture between 25 Japanese companies that want to participate in the project at the Daqing oil field.
Japan and China agreed in May to cooperate in the largest green initiative between the two countries in a bid by Asia's biggest polluters to reduce gases blamed for global warming. Injecting emissions into the aging wells will also speed up oil production. The project's costs and who will lead it are yet to be determined by the two governments.