The Moomba CCS project is expected to eventually have a storage capacity of up to 20 million tonnes of CO2 per annum
Santos plans to finalise technical and commercial arrangements for Moomba CCS project. (Credit: Nikola Belopitov from Pixabay)
Australian energy company Santos has completed the final field trial for the Moomba Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project in South Australia.
As part of the trial in the Strzelecki field in the Cooper Basin, Santos injected approximately 100 tonnes of CO2 deep underground into depleted gas reservoirs.
In March, BP said it would invest A$20m ($13.21m) in the Moomba CCS project.
Santos managing director and CEO Gallagher said “We will need an approved methodology for CCS to be in place with the Clean Energy Regulator before we take a final investment decision on our Moomba CCS Project because carbon credits are essential to make it stack up economically with the cost of abatement still at around A$30 per tonne.
“Our aim is to drive these costs lower with scale and experience, but the first step is to generate carbon credits to enable initial development.”
FID for Moomba CCS project expected by the end of 2020
Santos now plans to finalise technical and commercial arrangements required to make final investment decision (FID) for the Moomba CCS project which is expected by the end of the year.
The Moomba project aims to capture the 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 that are separated as of now each year from natural gas at the Moomba gas processing plant.
Gallagher said: “We are growing production in the Cooper Basin again, and that, combined with the Moomba CCS Project, has the potential to make Moomba a vital supplier of clean energy for Australia for another 50 years, supporting thousands of skilled, secure, well-paying jobs and decarbonising energy at its source.
“Our Moomba CCS Project is one of the most globally competitive projects – it will be the second largest in the world and one of the lowest cost project at our current estimate of around A$30 per tonne.”
The Moomba CCS project is expected to eventually have a storage capacity of up to 20 million tonnes of CO2 per annum.