Australia's federal Labor government has provided major project status to Japanese firm Inpex's planned 10mn t/yr Bonaparte carbon capture and storage (CCS) project offshore Australia's northern coast.
The announcement by Australia's industry minister Tim Ayres reflects the importance of CCS to the nation's net zero aims, Inpex managing director and country chair Tetsu Murayama said on 3 July.
The status provides a single entry point for Australian government approvals, project support and co-ordination and assistance with state and territory agencies' regulatory processes.
Pre-front end engineering started at the site in April, Inpex said, with initial CO2 injection planned for about 2030. The 9.3mn t/yr Ichthys LNG project based in the nearby city of Darwin is expected to be the first customer. Ichthys reported scope 1 emissions of 6.7mn t CO2 equivalent (CO2e) under Australia's safeguard mechanism in the July 2023 to June 2024 financial year, below its 7.46mn t CO2e baseline and earning 768,900 safeguard mechanism credits (SMCs) as a result.
Appraisal works last year identified a high-quality saline aquifer with good prospects for permanent sequestration, Murayama said. Detailed data analysis will be done ahead of any application for a greenhouse gas injection licence.
The firm was awarded acreage in the Bonaparte basin in 2022 and reached an initial agreement with Japanese utility Chubu Electric Power for potential CO2 imports in October last year. This followed a May agreement with Japanese power firm Jera to explore a CCS supply chain from Japan to Australia. Japan has limited domestic CCS sites.
There are two major CCS projects currently operating in Australia, both of which are onshore: Chevron's 4mn t/yr Gorgon project on Western Australia's Barrow Island and Australian independent Santos' 1.7mn t/yr Moomba facility in South Australia.
The technology has been criticised as prolonging fossil fuel usage. But Australia, a major exporter of LNG, has said CCS represents a huge opportunity as the world decarbonises. It passed laws to permit CO2 imports in 2023 in 2023.
