By Vladimir Soldatkin
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Russia, July 21 (Reuters) - The Russian
Pacific island of Sakhalin is close to a cooperation agreement
with a Japanese company on carbon capture and storage technology
as it moves to carbon neutrality by 2025, the regional governor
told Reuters.
Russia aims to make Sakhalin carbon neutral by 2025, the
first region to do so in the country, and as the island needs to
move quickly in adding renewable resources amid depleting fossil
fuels.
"The regional government is preparing to sign a cooperation
agreement with a well-known Japanese company," Valery Limarenko
said in emailed comments. He did not provide other details.
Sakhalin is home to Russia's first plant to produce
liquefied natural gas (LNG), operated by Sakhalin Energy. The
company has worked out an "ecological LNG" strategy, Limarenko
said, to cut its carbon footprint and supply carbon-neutral
fuel.
The region would introduce quotas for greenhouse gas
emissions from two dozen companies operating on the island, in
two steps: businesses with annual emissions of over 50,000
tonnes of CO2 equivalent would be targeted from 2023 and those
emitting over 20,000 tonnes to follow from 2025.
"We'd like to ... use the money (from quotas) to reduce
emissions, spend it on research and development, adaptation to
climate change," Limarenko said.
The region aims to generate 28% of energy from renewable
sources by 2025 thanks to the construction of wind, solar,
geothermal and small-sized hydro-electric power stations, mainly
on the Kuril Islands.
The region will introduce 10,000 electric-powered vehicles
and 1,000 charging stations by 2025 and plans to switch domestic
heating boilers to using natural gas and LNG, including on the
Kuril islands.
Japan is claiming back some of the Kuril islands, invaded by
the Soviets towards the end of World War Two. Russian President
Vladimir Putin has proposed that Japanese business should
jointly develop the islands.
Sakhalin's oil output, led by ExxonMobil and Rosneft
, is set to fall to 15.2 million tonnes this year
(300,000 barrels of oil per day) from 18.4 million tonnes in
2020, declining further to 14 million tonnes as its reserves
dwindle, the governor said.
Gas production, a feedstock for the Sakhalin-2 LNG plant, is
seen stable at over 30 billion cubic metres per year.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin
Editing by Katya Golubkova and David Evans)
