Author:
Former President/CEO
International CCS Knowledge Centre
Mike Monea,
Former President/CEO
International CCS Knowledge Centre
Michael (Mike) Monea grew up in Southern Saskatchewan, Canada with a passion for geology which has fuelled his career path to date. He holds designations as a Professional Engineer, Professional Geoscientist and is a member of the Canadian Institute of Corporate Directors. His entrepreneurial vision is the root of his past successes in developing companies and overseeing the construction of megaprojects.
Mike is the former President and CEO of the International CCS Knowledge Centre a non-profit organization which he helped to establish with BHP Billiton and SaskPower. This new initiative represents a culmination of Mike’s hard work as the president of Carbon capture and storage initiatives at SaskPower where he was in charge of creating and building the world’s first carbon capture plant for a coal electric unit valued at $1.5 billion CDN.
As a world-leading scientist, research and development is a key component in Mike’s mission to help reduce greenhouse gases through CCS technologies. His oversight of a scale-sized Carbon Capture Test Facility has ensured that progress continues to be made with international vendors on post-combustion capture systems. Progress gained in these areas can help reduce costs and advance CCS.
Mike’s past experience in oil and gas has allowed him to understand the benefits of and opportunities for carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and deep saline reservoir storage. Mike secured sales of CO2 from the Boundary Dam CCS Facility to oil fields in Southern Saskatchewan. Early on in his professional career he was trained in oil and gas operations in United States and went on to create two oil and gas companies, Nautilus Exploration and Associated Ltd. (in 1982) and Flatland Exploration Ltd. (in 1999). He had the opportunity to develop EOR procedures as the head of the Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC), amongst other processes for the oil and gas industry.
Throughout his career, Mike has understood the importance of partnerships at a local, national and international level. In 2006, Mike formed a Chinese investment company and since then has worked with most power, oil and regulatory agencies in China on CCS knowledge transfer. Mike has travelled the world speaking on CCS and is a sought-after panellist and advisor for this ground-breaking technology.
Mike is now the President of the Monea-CCS Services Ltd.
Greetings – welcome to my first ever blog. I’m delighted to provide another way to share updates – for at the International CCS Knowledge Centre, we’re all about open sharing of information to see the rapid and effective deployment of CCUS technology on large emitting sources around the globe.
We recognize the challenge and urgency of climate change. While we support innovation in renewable energy, we also know that CCS is an existing and ready to deploy technology that will make significant impacts in reducing emissions. Capturing CO2 before it’s released is the fastest and most significant way to do this.
Last month, we hosted 150 folks from 16 countries at our CCS Symposium, in Regina Saskatchewan, Canada to discuss advancing CCUS to mitigate climate change on a global scale and how to do it now.
Innovation on CO2 capture has been accelerating and the cost is coming down significantly therefore rapidly making CCUS both an essential and accessible part of climate change mitigation solutions.
Along with members of my team, we commit to providing regular updates on our projects and initiatives. Thanks for tuning in and reading. I as well as others at the International CCS Knowledge Centre can be easily reached through our contact information.
All the best,
Mike