Gorgon CCS 'very, very close' to start-up

US supermajor Chevron is making good progress towards start-up of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, that forms a key part of its Gorgon liquefied natural gas project on the ecologically sensitive Barrow Island in Western Australia.

“We’re very, very close… we’ve almost completed all the modifications,” said Nigel Hearne, president Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration & Production.

“We recognised some design issues as we were beginning to start. We’ve corrected those, they’re almost all correct and we’re very close to injecting CO2.”

The Gorgon CCS scheme was supposed to have come into operation in the first quarter of 2019.

“I’m confident that through the year-end we’ll see regular three trains of CO2 injection. I’m confident by year-end that we’ll see that system up and running,” said Hearne.

Until the CCS scheme starts up, all carbon dioxide is being vented, with one source suggesting up to 11 million tonnes of CO2 could have been released into the atmosphere by the time the injection scheme comes on line.

The Gorgon CCS project plans to inject between 3.4 million and 4 million tonnes of reservoir CO2 annually. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the 15.6 million tonnes per annum LNG project by approximately 40%.

Chevron reckons that 100 million tonnes of C02 will be injected into the Dupuy formation over the life of the Gorgon project.

“It (CCS) is a new technology. I think it’s a technology that we’ll have to embrace as we go forward,” added Hearne.

Speaking at an APPEA Connect Series panel held in conjunction with APPEA 2019 in Brisbane, Hearne said that de spite Australia’s LNG exports last year rising by almost a quarter, challenges remain for the nation’s industry and it’s time for change.

“We have an overcapitalised business, both on the east coast and the west coast. We have very little shared infrastructure.

“Instead we’ve gone with bespoke capital investments, they increase costs and could strand resources,” he said.

Australia also suffers from a shortfall of affordable and reliable domestic gas although the recent approval of a New South Wales LNG regasification facility is a welcome step towards closing the gap, according to Hearne.

“Think of what the green light for the regas terminal will do: It will bring extra volumes of domestic gas to shore to power local industry and homes and boost capacity in east coast projects.”