PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Santos on Monday announced that the company had been awarded permits to undertake evaluation and appraisal work for the potential storage of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the offshore Carnarvon and Bonaparte basins, off the coast of Western Australia.

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.

Santos MD and CEO Kevin Gallagher said the permits built on Santos’ CCS strategy and have the potential to yield additional CCS opportunities.

“CCS 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.

“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 Western Australian CCS hub at Reindeer and Devil Creek develop.

“The other permit is significant in size, covering more than 26 000 km² 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,” said Gallagher.

He said that Santos had 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% complete, with 100-million tonnes of CO₂ capacity and contingent resources already booked.

In addition, Santos’ Bayu-Undan CCS project entered into the -end engineering design phase earlier this year.

Globally, there are 133 commercial CCS projects operational or under development.