Australian companies Santos and CO2CRC are teaming up with South Korea’s SKE&S, Korea-CCUS Association (K-CCUS) and Korea Trade Insurance Corporation to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in Australia and Timor-Leste.
Santos confirmed the companies had signed a memorandum of understanding to support and collaborate in the development of carbon dioxide storage facilities.
The agreement will see the companies work together on CCS projects in Australia and nearby regions, including on Santos’ planned CCS development at the Bayu-Undan field, off the coast of Timor-Leste.
Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher said the agreement opened up the potential for broader bilateral partnership and cooperation on CCS between Australia and South Korea.
“Already partners in the Barossa Gas Project and Darwin LNG, the agreement further strengthens the deep and expanding relationship between SK E&S and Santos,” he added.
“We look forward to progressing this partnership to develop and commercialise CCS projects in our region on our path to a lower-emissions future.”
Santos is planning to utilise the soon to be depleted reservoirs at the Bayu-Undan field for a carbon capture and storage project to help offset the emissions of its Barossa development.
According to Santos, the existing wells at Bayu-Undan can be repurposed for carbon dioxide injection, while the pipeline that runs to the onshore Darwin liquefied natural gas plant is already capable of handling CO2.
Santos believes a CCS development at Bayu-Undan has the potential to store roughly 10 million tonnes per annum of CO2.
The Australian company anticipates to capture about 2.3 million tpa of CO2 from Barossa and Darwin LNG, leaving plenty of capacity to open up the CCS development to third party access.
