Santos officially opens Moomba carbon capture and storage plant

Energy giant Santos has officially opened its flagship Moomba carbon capture and storage plant, one of the world’s largest.

Premier Peter Malinauskas is hailing Friday a “historic day for our state” after officially opening a nation-leading Moomba carbon storage project billed as kickstarting a $600bn industry.

In South Australia’s far northeast, the Moomba Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project

started up last October and by year’s end had already stored 340,000 tonnes of CO2

equivalent.

Santos and partner Beach Energy on October 17 revealed they were injecting captured carbon dioxide into depleted reservoirs at Moomba at a rate that had them on course to meet their targeted 1.7 million tonnes per annum, the equivalent of taking 700,000 petrol cars off the road, or 10 per cent of SA’s total emissions in 2022.

The nation’s first large-scale onshore CCS project injects CO2 into the Cooper/Eramonga

basins, which have held oil and gas for millions of years.

Premier Peter Malinauskas with Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher, Beach CEO Brett Woods and Don Farrell at the new Moomba carbon capture and storage plant. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher, Peter Malinauskas, Don Farrell and Beach CEO Brett Woods. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Mr Malinauskas pointedly emphasised gas’s role in a clean energy future.

”This is a historic day for our state, which has a proud record in leading the world in the efforts to decarbonise,” he said.

“Gas plays an important part in that effort, in supporting South Australia’s world-leading

investment in renewable energy.

“And now, through great South Australian companies in Santos and Beach, the gas fields at

Moomba have the potential to become a storage site for carbon generated by industries across

Australia and throughout the Asian region.”

Mr Malinauskas said his government was “thoroughly committed” to boosting living standards

and prosperity by leveraging a world-leading decarbonisation position.

”This project is a fine example of how we can do just that,” he said.

Santos chief executive and managing director Kevin Gallagher cited research showing

Australia could reap up to $600bn by becoming an Asia-Pacific CO2 storage hub and urged

policymakers to “seize the opportunity to deploy CCS to reduce emissions faster, at scale and

cost- competitively”.

“We have made history out at Moomba. It’s a first for Santos, it’s a first for South Australia and a first for Australia in terms of large-scale, onshore CCS,” he said.

The Premier at the Moomba CCS plant, which is a joint venture of Santos and Beach Energy. Picture: Brenton Edwards

“In bringing this project to fruition, I believe we have also started an incredible new chapter in Australia’s energy transition, which will lead us to become a carbon capture and storage

superpower.”

Beach Energy managing director and chief executive Brett Woods said the consensus was natural gas would play a key role in the energy transition for decades, citing the International Energy Agency’s argument that reaching net zero by 2050 would be “virtually impossible” without CCS.

“The success of Moomba CCS strikes a telling blow to the naysayers who choose anti-gas

ideology over science,” he said.

Mr Woods urged increased federal government support “for this critical, and proven,

decarbonisation process” by ensuring all CCS projects were able to generate ACCUs (carbon

credits).

Federal Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell said: “The reality that Prime Minister Albanese understands is that we are not going to get to the decarbonisation process without gas, and we’ve got our gas strategy, where we will continue to support the gas industry as part of that process towards decarbonisation.”

Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia said the previous Marshall Liberal government had backed

the Moomba project, declaring it struck “a balance between addressing emissions and creating

jobs while stimulating the state economy”.

Originally published as Santos officially opens Moomba carbon capture and storage plant