Parts of the Browse, Perth, Bonaparte and Northern Carnarvon basins will be opened to offshore greenhouse gas carbon capture exploration, as part of an acreage release.
Parts of the Browse, Perth, Bonaparte and Northern Carnarvon basins will be opened to offshore greenhouse gas carbon capture exploration, as part of a federal government acreage release.
A total of 10 lots are available for bidding under the program in seven prominent basins nationwide, including four Western Australian basins known for their natural gas endowment.
Federal Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Madeleine King said the areas had been chosen for their geology and carbon storage potential.
“The Australian Government is committed to lowering emissions and helping the world to achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” Minister King said.
“Both the Climate Change Authority and the International Energy Agency have said carbon capture and storage will be an important technology to help the world achieve its climate goals.”
The move to make acreage available for carbon capture exploration comes amid debate over the importance of the technology to the government.
Earlier in the month, the Labor party was accused of diluting its support for carbon capture at its national conference, where it passed a motion to limit the use of the technology to certain sectors.
But Ms King later endorsed the potential of the technology, with the government backing it in as an important part of the emissions lowering mix moving forward.
“The International Energy Agency recognises that CCS and CCUS will play an important role in helping achieve net zero by 2050, particularly in hard-to-abate industrial sectors,” the government’s release said.
Ms King said the government allocated $12 million in the May 2023-24 budget to reviewing the environmental management regime and examining ways to improve regulations to support offshore carbon capture projects.
Speaking at a Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA event yesterday, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the party would embrace any technology which worked in combating greenhouse emissions.
““We don’t have an ideological view for or against it. If it works, we’re for it,” he said.
“We are pragmatists, and part of being a pragmatist when it comes to decarbonising our economy and industries is recognising there will be a range of different technologies that will help us get there, and this is likely to be one of them.”
A number of high profile companies are exploring carbon capture technologies in Western Australia, with Chevron’s carbon capture facility at the Gorgon gas export plant not operating to capacity.
Woodside is also exploring carbon capture options at four sites in Australia, including its untapped Browse project and the depleted Angel gas field in the Carnarvon Basin.
Chief executive Meg O’Neill recently told an investor call the company envisaged a model where it would offer carbon capture and storage as a service to buyers of its LNG in future.
Today's announcement was welcomed by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, which said it furthered the momentum to deploy carbon capture to accelerate the path to net zero.
"There is an enormous opportunity for Australia to create new jobs and attract new investment through the development of carbon capture technology," chief executive Samantha McCulloch said.
“CCUS should be part of this nation’s DNA just like gas production has been for decades because it is basically the gas extraction process in reverse – trapping the emissions in deep geological formations, often in former gas fields.
“With places like the US and UK announcing major cleaner energy packages focused on this technology, Australia needs to ensure it is not missing out on securing emissions reductions and the economic benefits that will come with these new industries.
“There is growing momentum for CCUS globally as well as increasing recognition of the opportunity of the technology to attract new investment, create new jobs, build a major new industry for Australia, and support emissions reductions across the economy and the region."
The Australian Marine Conservation Society was less complementary, claiming carbon capture was unproven, unsafe and unviable.
"The proposed development of any offshore CCS site is likely to be used to justify ongoing fossil fuel extraction within Australia," its oil and gas campaign manager Louise Morris said.
"These acreage releases for CCS risk harming our oceans and marine life, contributing to the further release of significant carbon emissions in Australia, and undermines efforts to meet our Paris Agreement climate commitments."
Ms King said the areas chosen were shaped to minimise impacts to other marine users and the marine environment.
Bidding for each of the 10 acreage releases will close at 4pm on Tuesday, November 28.
