Wintershall Dea, YPF and Dow jointly explore carbon capture and storage potential in Argentina

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• Collaborative assessment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) potential in Argentina
• Focus region is the area around Bahía Blanca
• Wintershall Dea to provide its global expertise in CCS projects

Wintershall Dea, YPF, Argentina's national energy company, and Dow, a global materials science leader, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly assess potential carbon capture and storage (CCS) opportunities in Argentina.

The MoU defines a period of twelve months, where the technical teams of the companies will jointly work to identify potential suitable locations for CCS in the surroundings of the Bahía Blanca port industrial conglomerate.

The proximity to the industrial cluster with its CO₂ emissions in Bahía Blanca could also facilitate the production of natural gas-based, low-carbon hydrogen.

“As a technology, CCS will play an important role globally in decarbonizing industries and achieving climate targets – wherever CO₂ emissions cannot be avoided for the time being. We look forward to contributing our expertise and experience from our European CCS projects to assess CCS potential here in Argentina”, explains Mario Mehren, CEO of Wintershall Dea.  

Matías Campodónico, President of Dow Argentina and the South Region of Latin America says: “Decarbonization is a complex challenge we are determined to not only meet but lead in our industry. At Dow, we are taking a comprehensive and phased approach to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, while meeting customers’ increasing demands for more sustainable and circular products.  Our goal is ambitious, and we must work together with experts to achieve it.”

Wintershall Dea is actively involved in the development of CCS infrastructure for unavoidable industrial emissions, currently primarily in Northwestern Europe. One example is the Greensand project, in which the entire cross-border CCS value chain was successfully demonstrated for the first time in the European Union in spring 2023. CO₂ from a Belgian industrial company was stored in a depleted oil field in the Danish North Sea.

“As one of the major gas producers in Argentina, we continue to explore ways to expand and diversify our portfolio in the country, including in the field of hydrogen and carbon emissions management”, explains Manfred Böckmann, Managing Director of Wintershall Dea Argentina. “We are delighted to be part of this partnership and to be working with YPF and Dow in Argentina on this important energy transition topic”, Böckmann emphasises.

_{About Wintershall Dea}

_{Wintershall Dea is transforming from the leading European independent gas and oil company to become a leading European independent gas and carbon management company. We have more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 11 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business. And we develop carbon management and low carbon hydrogen projects to contribute to climate goals and secure energy supplies.  More in our Annual Report.}

_{As a European gas and oil company, we support the EU's 2050 carbon neutrality target. As our contribution we have set ourselves ambitious targets: We want to be net zero across our entire upstream operations – both operated and non-operated – by 2030. This includes Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions on an equity share basis. Wintershall Dea will also bring its methane emissions intensity below 0.1 per cent by 2025. We endorsed the World Bank’s Initiative ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’ and continue to support the initiative aimed at eliminating routine flaring in operated assets by 2030. In addition, we plan to support global decarbonisation efforts by building up a carbon management and hydrogen business to potentially abate 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 per annum by 2040. You can find more about this in our Sustainability Report.}

_{Wintershall Dea was formed from the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, in 2019. Today, the company employs more than 2,000 people worldwide from almost 60 nations.}