Ms O’Neill noted that the Angel offshore field lies very close to major emissions sources such as the Karratha Gas Plant and Woodside’s Pluto LNG project. It is also near to Perdaman’s urea plant under construction near Karratha which will also be another significant source of carbon emissions.
“With the right regulatory framework we would be looking at moving those projects forward with more pace.”
Ms O’Neill said the regulations for offshore carbon storage “just aren’t there yet”, holding back progress on those types of projects, unlike the onshore CCS projects that have gone ahead: Chevron’s Gorgon CCS project on Barrow Island off WA, and Santos’ Moomba project in northern South Australia.
“The opportunities that Woodside is pursuing are offshore CCS and the regulations just aren’t there yet, so we do need support from the government to get the regulations in place around how to use CCS in an offshore setting,” she said.
“It is costly but the energy transition is going to cost money so we’ve got to be exploring all of these technologies, and the IEA and the IPCC are both really clear that we’ve got to find ways to sequester carbon if we’re going to be successful in tackling climate change.”
Earlier, Ms O’Neill said carbon capture and storage technology has been used in the United States for decades and Australia risks missing out.
“It’s something that could be incredibly powerful for Australia,“ Ms O’Neill said. She reiterated that speed was required so the benefits could be gleaned for the Australian economy.
South Australian Energy and Mining Minister Tom Koutsantonis told the APPEA conference that the carbon capture project in the Cooper Basin, led by Santos, had potentially vast upside for the Australian economy.
“It’s groundbreaking,” he said.
Gas from Santos fields being used to generate electricity in a gas-fired power station would effectively be emissions-free using that carbon capture method.
The next goal was to be able to use direct air capture technology to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and decarbonise the feedstock used in steelmaking. Overseas buyers of steel would ultimately pay a premium for products made with lower carbon emissions.
Anthony Western, the Subsurface Team Leader at the Santos carbon capture project at Moomba, said the company used existing depleted wells coming to the end of their life as the vessel to hold the carbon, which made it very cost effective.
Santos had decades of expertise in designing, building and operating oil and gas projects and it was a natural fit. “We have significant expertise that is transferable to CCS,” he said.