PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King has backed US energy major Chevron’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) efforts at its Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, in Western Australia.

"The Gorgon project off the coast of Western Australia is Australia’s only carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) project in operation, and since August 2019 it has injected over seven-million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into a deep saline formation beneath Barrow Island,” King said in an address to the Australia and Southeast Asia Global CCS Institute Forum.

“It is fair to say that there are enormous expectations placed on Chevron’s CCUS project, with the project experiencing challenges along the way and it has far from met those expectations.

“I do not doubt Chevron’s resolve to make this important project work and I want to acknowledge their efforts and investment in progressing practical CCUS.

“It remains one of the biggest CCS projects in the world and is essential for the reputation and the science of CCUS. To ensure greater support for this critical abatement technology in the wider community the industry must get runs on the board. Perhaps a double-century innings even.”

Chevron in 2021 conceded that it had failed to capture sufficient greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions at its Gorgon oil and gas project and was now working with the Western Australian regulator to make up the shortfall. The company, at the time, announced a A$40-million investment in lower carbon projects in Western Australia to address this shortfall.

Under the terms of the project’s approval, the Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) operation is meant to capture four-million tonnes a year of CO₂, or 80% of the carbon extracted from its reservoir gas, and reduce GHG emissions by more than 100-million tonnes over the life of the injection project.

The US energy major earlier this year announced that it would contribute A$38-million to CCS research projects in Western Australia and Victoria, advancing knowledge of the critical emissions technology for a lower carbon future.

King said this week that recent climate modelling undertaken by Net Zero Australia found that Australia would need to develop a carbon capture capacity of approximately 175-million tonnes a year by 2035 to achieve net zero by 2050.

“There are two key challenges. One is to build sufficient CCS capacity off a very low base. And the second is to broaden carbon capture from its current focus on petroleum activities.

“The task before us is to meet these challenges. It is vital that we make the most of the opportunities.

“Doing so will bring great benefits to Australia and the world. Indeed it is imperative to the global goal of reaching net zero by 2050 and to fighting dangerous levels of global warming that we make CCUS a success,” King said.