Australian oil and gas firm Santos has been awarded permits to undertake evaluation and appraisal work for the potential storage of carbon dioxide in the offshore Carnarvon and Bonaparte basins, off the coast of Western Australia, the company announced today.
Permits G-9-AP and G-11-AP will enable Santos to pursue potential carbon capture and storage (CCS) opportunities with its joint venture partners.
Just over a week ago, Santos, as operator of the Barossa joint venture, announced a final investment decision (FID) has been taken to proceed with the Darwin Pipeline Duplication Project, located offshore the Northern Territory, Australia.
The decision will extend the Barossa Gas Export Pipeline to the Santos-operated Darwin LNG (DLNG) facility and allow for the repurposing of the existing Bayu-Undan field to Darwin pipeline to facilitate carbon capture and storage (CCS) options.
Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Gallagher, said the latest permits build on the company's CCS strategy and have the potential to yield additional CCS opportunities.
“Carbon capture and storage is critical for the world to reduce emissions and in line with Santos’ net-zero scope 1 and 2 equity-share emissions by 2040 target, we are committed to looking at all options for CCS capabilities,” Mr Gallagher said.
“Santos is working towards developing its three hub CCS strategy across our operating footprint in Australia and Timor-Leste, and the award of these permits represents further demonstration of our commitment to that strategy.
“In the Carnarvon Basin, the permit creates potential new acreage for CCS beyond our Reindeer fields. This is particularly significant as our plans for a WA CCS hub at Reindeer and Devil Creek develop.
“The other permit is significant in size, covering more than 26,000 square kilometers in the Bonaparte Basin. Its proximity to our Bayu-Undan CCS project, which has the potential to be one of the largest CCS projects in the world, is important as we look to build our Northern Australia and Timor-Leste CCS hub.
“At Santos, we have the technology, infrastructure and knowledge to be able to deliver low-cost CCS competitively on a global scale. We know a large scale-up of CCS is required to meet the world’s climate objectives.
“Working with our partners to assess the storage potential in these permit areas will provide us with a greater understanding of the geology and inform us of the possible storage opportunities.”
Santos’ first CCS project at Moomba will be one of the biggest in the world and paves the way for a significant carbon reduction and storage story for Santos, and for Australia. The project is 20 per cent complete, with 100 million tonnes of CO2 capacity and contingent resources already booked.
In addition, Santos’ Bayu-Undan CCS project entered into front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase earlier this year.
G-9-AP has been awarded to Santos Offshore Pty Ltd (50% and Operator) and Chevron Australia Pty Ltd (50%) and covers an area of 3,589 km2 within the Carnarvon Basin.
G-11-AP has been awarded to Santos Offshore Pty Ltd (40% and Operator), Chevron Australia Pty Ltd (30%) and SK E&S (30%) and covers an area of 26,239 km2 within the Bonaparte Basin.
Globally, there are 133 commercial CCS projects operational or under development, says Santos.