Development of Mexico's CCUS Regulatory Framework

Abstract

For the last 10 years, Mexico has been putting down all the pieces to have an integrated legislation and policies on climate change.

In 2009, the country started to work directly on the CCS/CCUS topic and by 2014 it had in place the Technology Roadmap of CCUS in Mexico. Just one year after, an initial study on the regulatory framework for CCUS in Mexico was made and 38 gaps and barriers where identified within the domestic regulatory framework regarding CCUS activities. This study, however, did not contemplate the radical changes that the energy sector in Mexico was facing, therefore new legislation, institutions and attributions came into play, while the pressure from the upcoming pilot projects in the country started to be felt. The pilot projects will cover a CO2 capture plant in Poza Rica and CO2 - EOR activities in Minatitlan, both in the state of Veracruz. Both pilot projects will bring valuable technical and regulatory data that would be integrated in the future works of the CCUS initiative in the country.

CCUS became a legitimate part of the Mexican Legislation as a recognized Clean Energy Technology within the Electricity Industry Law and the Energy Transition Law, as a consequence, the Mexican Steering Committee on CCUS decided to update and include this changes as part of the new regulatory planning. The results of such updates where: the inclusion of the Agency for Safety, Energy and Environment (ASEA) as a new regulator for the oil and gas sector, therefore, involved in the EOR/CCUS issues; Mexico’s recent incorporation to the ISO standards regarding CCUS activities; and finally, the incoming work to develop a domestic official standard exclusively related to CCUS activities aiming to set the stage for commercial scale projects in the near future.

ASEA, as the decentralized branch of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), deals with the regulation, implementation and enforcement of environmental and safety standards within the Oil and Gas sector, a sector that has just opened up after the Energy Reform. As part of these attributions, the use of CO2 for EOR will be regulated by ASEA, making them an active part of the Mexican Steering Committee on CCUS and the regulatory working group to work closely with SEMARNAT on regulating the entire CCUS value chain.

The ISO TC/265 regarding Carbon Dioxide Capture, Transportation, and Geological Storage has 6 working groups: Capture, Transportation, Storage, Quantification and Verification, Cross Cutting Issues, and EOR issues. Mexico joined in November 2017, as a P-Member (participant), meaning that the country has full access to the development process of new standards and documents. This opens up a wide range of opportunities to access best international practices, standards, and a global network on experts that would provide valuable input to the regulatory development process domestically.

Keywords: REGULATORY, FRAMEWORK, CCS, CCUS, MEXICO, ISO, GHGT, DEVELOPMENT, PILOT