Woodside and two of its five partners in the North West Shelf (NWS) gas and liquefied natural gas project in Australia are joining forces to progress feasibility studies for a large-scale, multi-user carbon capture and storage (CCS) project near Karratha in Western Australia.
Operator Woodside, along with BP and Japan Australia LNG (MiMi), will assess the technical, regulatory and commercial feasibility of capturing carbon emitted by multiple industries located near Karratha on the Burrup Peninsula and storing it in offshore reservoirs in the Northern Carnarvon basin.
Woodside said the study represents an important step towards the development of one of Australia’s first multi-user CCS projects, and it is ideally located to aggregate emissions from various existing sources.
Also, it would help facilitate the development of new lower-carbon industries, such as the production of hydrogen and ammonia, by providing a local solution for emissions.
“Carbon capture and storage will play a key role in Australia meeting its emissions targets and has the potential to decarbonise existing and new industry,” said Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill.
"It would be an important addition to Woodside’s carbon management options as we work towards our own aspiration of net zero by 2050.”
Woodside noted that the successful deployment of CCS in Western Australia has the potential to create jobs and contribute to achieving greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets at a lower cost than many other technologies.
BP senior vice president for hydrogen and CCUS Louise Jacobsen Plutt said: “With our deep expertise and experience in CCS, this is a great opportunity for BP to explore with our longstanding joint venture partners the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industrial sectors in the northwest, and Australia more widely, through the technology.”
MiMi chief executive Hiroyuki Kurahashi added that the Mitsubishi and Mitsui joint venture is excited to work with its consortium partners in looking at technology to help manage and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
However, noticeably absent from the CCS alliance, which was announced on Thursday, are the other NWS co-venturers.
While BHP's absence might be down to the fact that Woodside is acquiring its oil and gas assets, neither Chevron nor Shell put their names to the initiative either.
Neither company has yet responded to Upstream's request for comment.
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