His HIGHNESS Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin JabOr Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, made an official visit to The Netherlands in April, where he held meetings with numerous Dutch dignitaries, including Her Majesty Queen Beatrix, and Prime Minister Balkenende.
As part of his programme, His Highness paid a visit to Shell’s headquarters in The Hague where he was briefed on the company’s global strategic position and views around the development of the energy industry.

During the visit to The Hague, His Highness also discussed Shell’s involvement in Qatar and was given an update on the company’s projects in the country. His Highness met with Jeroen van der Veer, Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell, Linda Cook, Executive Director, Shell Gas & Power, and Shell’s Country Chairman in Qatar, Andy Brown.

Accompanying the Prime Minister on this occasion was His Excellency Yousuf Hussain Kamal, Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Economy and Trade of Qatar, as well as other high-ranking Qatari officials.



The Region

CO2 alliance for Shell and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

In April Shell renewed its strategic alliance with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to co-operate in a feasibility study to capture CO2 (carbon dioxide) from industrial plants using MHI’s proprietary flue-gas CO2 recovery technology.

Captured CO2 would be injected into suitable oil reservoirs as a form of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) to improve and increase the level of oil recovery in these reservoirs.

The CO2 to be injected for these EOR projects will be captured and recovered from the flue gas emitted by power generation plants and other industrial facilities, compressed and then transported to site.

The use of CO2 in EOR projects has four main benefits. The first is that it contributes to the capture of CO2 and so leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions. Secondly, the CO2 is safely sequestered underground in oil reservoirs. Third, the CO2 improves oil production and, finally, it leads to an increase in recoverable oil reserves.

The use of CO2 as an EOR technology is relatively expensive compared to other methods but against the backdrop of the recent surge in oil prices interest in the use of CO2 for EOR projects has risen.

This strategic alliance between Shell and MHI is based on MHI’s CO2 separation and recovery technologies and Shell’s experience as a globally-integrated energy company with substantial experience in the use of CO2 in EOR projects.