In barren country near the top right-hand corner of South Australia, 960 kilometres north of Adelaide between the Strzelecki Desert and Innamincka, Santos’ ambitious Moomba gasfield carbon capture and storage project is barrelling ahead.

Three-fifths built and on target for startup early next year, the $US165 million ($250 million) Moomba CCS project is the hope of the side for the controversial technology to dispel the scepticism – bordering on ridicule – drawn by Chevron’s chronic misadventures with its ambitious attempt to store carbon dioxide deep below the Indian Ocean at its giant Gorgon project.