Gorgon carbon capture project is expected to reduce its LNG greenhouse gas emissions by about 40%
The Chevron Australia-operated Gorgon LNG Project in Australia. (Credit: Chevron Corporation)
Chevron Australia and the Gorgon joint venture partners have launched the carbon dioxide (CO2) injection system at the Gorgon LNG facility off the coast of Western Australia.
CO2 injection project is part of £44bn Gorgon LNG project
The Gorgon CO2 injection project is a subsection of the $54bn (£44.4bn) Gorgon LNG project, which involves the Greater Gorgon Area gas fields off the northwest coast of Western Australia.
Said to be the largest of its kind, the CO2 Injection Project is expected to cut Gorgon’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 40% — or more than 100 million tonnes over the life of the project.
Chevron Australia managing director Al Williams said: “We are pleased to reach the first milestone of safely starting the operation of the Gorgon carbon dioxide injection system, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas mitigation projects ever undertaken by industry.
“This achievement is the result of strong collaboration across industry and governments and supports our objective of providing affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy essential to our modern lives.
“We are monitoring system performance and plan to safely ramp up injection volumes over the coming months as we bring online processing facilities.”
The CO2 Injection Project involves separating the CO2 created by the LNG station’s gas liquefaction process and transporting it to one of three drill centres via a pipeline.
These centres feature nine wells where the CO2 can be injected. It is then migrated through the Gorgon’s deep reservoir unit, named Dupuy Formation, located more than 2km beneath Barrow Island, where it can be trapped.
Operated by Chevron Australia, the Gorgon project is a joint venture of the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (47.3%), ExxonMobil (25%), Shell (25%), Osaka Gas (1.25%), Tokyo Gas (1%) and JERA (0.417%).
In 2017, production commenced from the third train of the three LNG production units at the Gorgon LNG project.