‘We are very confident we will get that carbon capture project off the ground this year’: Santos carbon capture storage an opportunity for Australia to lead the world

Santos managing director and CEO says Australia has an opportunity to get ahead of the pack globally in the carbon capture space.

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SANTOS managing director and CEO Kevin Gallagher says Australia has an opportunity to get ahead of the pack globally in the carbon capture space.

Mr Gallagher said Santos expected to give the tick this year to its carbon capture and storage project in the Cooper Basin, which has the potential to store up to 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

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Mr Gallagher singled out the Cooper Basin carbon capture and storage project as a key project for the company this year alongside its $5.6bn Barossa gas project off the coast of Darwin.

LNG Experts, including the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have identified Carbon Capture Storage as a critical technology to achieve the world’s climate goals.

“We’re going to be net zero by 2040 and we have a plan to get there and our carbon capture and storage project is very much part of that plan,” he 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.

“We are very confident we will get that carbon capture project off the ground this year.

“A Carbon Capture and Storage project and other carbon capture projects we are looking at across our portfolio put us ahead of the queue globally in terms of gas companies on the world stage and in terms of our ESG positioning.

“Australia has some carbon capture and storage reservoir potential basins all across the country that can give low-cost carbon capture opportunities that I think are unrivalled.”

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Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has claimed Santos’ proposed offshore Barossa gas field near Darwin has the tag of having more carbon dioxide than any gas made into LNG.

It says the Australian agency NOPSEMA must address serious questions about its approval of the Barossa offshore development and other high emitting LNG offshore fields proposed going forward.