A roadmap for carbon capture and storage deployment in Australia: key constraints and opportunities
Mark Sanders A B , Geoffrey O’Brien A , Simone de Morton A * and David Byers AA
B Present address:
Mark Sanders is Opportunities and Studies Manager at Senex Energy, with over 15 years of experience in oil and gas exploration and production across most geologies in conventional and unconventional plays. He also has experience across the full hydrocarbon value chain working in decarbonisation, sustainability, land access and environmental approvals. He also worked with CO2CRC, exploring carbon capture and storage (CCS) and decarbonisation pathways more broadly in Australia and working at the intersection of projects, regulations and policy as a Techno-Regulatory Advisor. |
Geoff O’Brien is the Chief Scientist for CO2CRC. Geoff has over 35 years of experience in the marine research, petroleum and CCS sectors, and he has worked in and for the petroleum industry as a petroleum systems and CCS technical specialist. He has also worked for Geoscience Australia, where he was the Research Group Leader for the Marine Environment and Offshore Petroleum Group, as a research consultant at the University of Adelaide, as the Energy Geoscience Manager at Geoscience Victoria and as the Chief Geoscientist for the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA). Dr O’Brien has a comprehensive understanding knowledge of Australia’s sedimentary basin systems and their petroleum potential, and over the past 15 years, he has become increasingly involved in the CCS sector. |
Simone de Morton is a Techno-Regulatory Advisor at CO2CRC with 9 years of experience in the industry, holding a PhD in Geology along with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree. Simone has worked as a Production Geologist and Exploration Geologist at ExxonMobil Australia and as a Geologist at NOPTA. At CO2CRC, Simone has combined her extensive regulatory and geological expertise to provide techno-regulatory guidance to CCS project proponents and has delivered CCS regulatory educational courses to non-technical professionals. |
David Byers is a Director of CO2Tech and Principal of Inlet Advisory Pty Ltd. David has over 35 years of experience in the resources and energy industry, including executive appointments in ExxonMobil and BHP in Australia, Singapore and the US. He is a former Chief Executive Officer of the national industry bodies of the Australian upstream oil and gas and mining industries (APPEA and the Minerals Council of Australia) as well as the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. From 2018 to 2021, he was the CEO of CO2CRC Limited. David has degrees in economics and law. |
Abstract
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) project proponents within Australia lie principally within the gas processing/liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, which has the capability, capacity and motivation to drive CCS forwards. However, the lack of existing government support and incentives for CCS nationally, combined with its high cost, means that Australia’s CCS project rollout is lagging. This paper articulates a project-centric roadmap for the deployment of CCS in Australia. Our key premise is that foundational, gas processing/LNG-based CCS projects are critical to securing the decarbonisation of the wider manufacturing economy, especially within the hard-to-abate sectors. The proposed roadmap involves the following four steps: (1) west coast and South Australian natural gas processing/LNG leads the (project) way and provides the foundational projects around which multi-sector CCS hubs, which combine large storage volumes with low storage costs, begin to emerge; (2) the use of CCS in the hard-to-abate sector evolves progressively around the developing hubs; (3) CCS hubs and the hard-to-abate storage sector expand as transboundary CO2 importation ramps up; and (4) production of carbon-negative fuels for transport, agriculture and power become key industrial components within the CCS industrial hubs. Without a range of geographically spread, large, foundational CCS projects, the hard-to-abate sector will struggle to ever decarbonise effectively, and the proposed importation of CO2 into Australia will remain largely unrealised. A national and supportive approach to CCS is needed urgently so that a diverse range of foundational projects are rolled out, to facilitate the stabilisation and subsequent growth of the hard-to-abate sectors.
Keywords: ammonia, Asia, Australia, CCS, CCS hubs, cement, hard-to-abate, LNG, pipelines, policy, projects, regulations, shipping, social licence, steel, transport.
Mark Sanders is Opportunities and Studies Manager at Senex Energy, with over 15 years of experience in oil and gas exploration and production across most geologies in conventional and unconventional plays. He also has experience across the full hydrocarbon value chain working in decarbonisation, sustainability, land access and environmental approvals. He also worked with CO2CRC, exploring carbon capture and storage (CCS) and decarbonisation pathways more broadly in Australia and working at the intersection of projects, regulations and policy as a Techno-Regulatory Advisor. |
Geoff O’Brien is the Chief Scientist for CO2CRC. Geoff has over 35 years of experience in the marine research, petroleum and CCS sectors, and he has worked in and for the petroleum industry as a petroleum systems and CCS technical specialist. He has also worked for Geoscience Australia, where he was the Research Group Leader for the Marine Environment and Offshore Petroleum Group, as a research consultant at the University of Adelaide, as the Energy Geoscience Manager at Geoscience Victoria and as the Chief Geoscientist for the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA). Dr O’Brien has a comprehensive understanding knowledge of Australia’s sedimentary basin systems and their petroleum potential, and over the past 15 years, he has become increasingly involved in the CCS sector. |
Simone de Morton is a Techno-Regulatory Advisor at CO2CRC with 9 years of experience in the industry, holding a PhD in Geology along with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree. Simone has worked as a Production Geologist and Exploration Geologist at ExxonMobil Australia and as a Geologist at NOPTA. At CO2CRC, Simone has combined her extensive regulatory and geological expertise to provide techno-regulatory guidance to CCS project proponents and has delivered CCS regulatory educational courses to non-technical professionals. |
David Byers is a Director of CO2Tech and Principal of Inlet Advisory Pty Ltd. David has over 35 years of experience in the resources and energy industry, including executive appointments in ExxonMobil and BHP in Australia, Singapore and the US. He is a former Chief Executive Officer of the national industry bodies of the Australian upstream oil and gas and mining industries (APPEA and the Minerals Council of Australia) as well as the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. From 2018 to 2021, he was the CEO of CO2CRC Limited. David has degrees in economics and law. |
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