Kevin Gallagher: New carbon capture storage project to bring prosperity

The carbon capture and storage project in Moomba is going to be world-leading and will bring the area great prosperity, writes Santos boss Kevin Gallagher.

For more than 50 years, Santos has been safely and sustainably delivering natural gas from Moomba, in the state’s remote northeast, to homes and industries in Adelaide. Later, gas delivery was expanded across South Australia, to the east coast and then to Asia.

Since November 10, 1969, Moomba has been SA’s energy hub, and it is now critical energy infrastructure powering the nation’s eastern states industries.

Fast forward to 2022 and a new era of prosperity for Moomba is on the horizon as work starts on the state’s first carbon capture and storage project.

Santos managing director Kevin Gallagher. Picture Simon Cross

The Moomba CCS project is world-leading. Not only is it a critical project to help Australia reach its emissions-reduction goals, it will be one of the biggest and lowest-cost CCS projects in the world. With carbon prices rapidly rising, it has the potential to become a profitable business in its own right.

It is the first CCS project to be registered with Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator and is eligible to generate high-integrity carbon credit units which are in high demand as businesses around the nation look to offset emissions.

Moomba CCS will be able to safely and permanently store 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. This is the equivalent of taking about 700,000 vehicles off the road each year and reducing SA’s annual emissions by about 7 per cent.

Christian Winterfield with Adrian Rietschel, Santos Site supervisor, at the Santos Carbon Capture storage project in South Australia. Picture: Kelly Barnes

The same gas reservoirs in the SA Outback that, in 1969, first brought natural gas to a suburban Adelaide home will now help the world address climate change by avoiding carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.

CCS will extend the life of existing infrastructure at Moomba. In 2016, Moomba was a facility in decline. But our teams have worked incredibly hard to turn the asset around and it now has a bright and prosperous future.

Moomba has provided employment for thousands of South Australians over the years. Today, local contractors are already working on the parts we need to propel the CCS project forward.

Contractors are not the only ones set to benefit. We’ll be filling close to 230 new jobs during construction of the Moomba CCS project with thousands more skilled, secure, well-paying jobs sustained throughout the project’s lifetime, supporting SA communities for decades to come.

Santos Carbon Capture storage project in South Australia. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Natural gas is part of our everyday lives – from the clothes we wear and the heating and cooling in our homes to all forms of transport including cars, bikes and the shoes we walk in.

Thanks to natural gas, we have phones, computers and pens to write with, as well as the cement and bricks that give us shelter and the carpet under our feet.

Gas even helps us make fertiliser, medical supplies and the packaging for the food and drinks we consume every day.

The transition to cleaner energy must be a just and fair one, which is why Santos is committed to supplying critical fuels such as natural gas to Asia, where far too many people live in poverty without access to reliable and affordable electricity.

If we don’t, it is the poorest people in developing countries that suffer.

As Australia looks for ways to reduce emissions, natural gas will be well placed as a transition fuel that supports the increasing use of renewable energy.

Santos Carbon Capture storage project in South Australia. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Already our natural gas provides the firming power SA’s homes and businesses need when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow.

At Santos, we are working hard to reduce carbon emissions and still provide the critical fuels that customers are demanding to meet their energy needs. We are aiming to help the world decarbonise by achieving net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040 and through developing cleaner energy and clean fuels such as hydrogen.

The Moomba CCS project is a cornerstone of Santos’s transition to cleaner energy with the potential to enable production of low-emissions hydrogen using natural gas combined with CCS.

Adrian Rietschel, Santos site supervisor, at the Santos Carbon Capture storage project. Picture: Kelly Barnes

We are also investing in new technologies such as direct air capture and post-combustion-capture technology that will potentially allow us to reduce emissions or negate emissions in the future.

We are planning to pilot test these technologies in the next two years.

At a time when the eyes of the world are focused on reducing emissions, Santos is at the forefront of the energy transition.

This first CCS project in SA has the potential to underpin a new, large-scale carbon-storage industry for the nation while creating new skilled, secure, well-paid jobs.

Moomba CCS is the beginning of a new, exciting and prosperous era for all South Australians.

Kevin Gallagher is Santos managing director and chief executive