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Session 1. Oral Presentation for: A roadmap for carbon capture and storage deployment in Australia: key constraints and opportunities

Simone de Morton A *
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- Author Affiliations

A CO2CRC, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.




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.

* Correspondence to: simonedemorton@co2crc.com.au

Australian Energy Producers Journal 65, EP24411 https://doi.org/10.1071/EP24411
Published: 19 June 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of Australian Energy Producers.

Abstract

Presented on 27 May 2025: Session 1

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.

To access the Oral Presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

Keywords: ammonia, Asia, Australia, CCS, CCS hubs, cement, hard-to-abate, LNG, pipelines, policy, projects, regulations, shipping, social licence, steel, transport.

Biographies

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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.