Chevron acts to improve performance of Gorgon carbon capture and storage project
Improving the performance of the carbon capture and storage unit at Chevron’s Gorgon facility would undercut allegations the technology, widely seen as needed to get to net zero emissions, does not work.
US energy giant Chevron has begun works to improve the performance of its carbon capture and storage (CC&S) project at Australia’s largest LNG development, Gorgon.
If successful, it could counter suggestions that the technology – lauded as the only viable solution to net zero emissions by 2050 – does not work.
Housed at Barrow Island, a 202 sqm island off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia, Chevron’s CC&S project was by now supposed to be the world’s largest carbon capture and storage site, capable of accepting four million tonnes of buried carbon dioxide each year.
But it has been beset by problems and currently stores about 1.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. This has required Chevron to cover the surplus by buying carbon credits to satisfy its obligations to operate on Barrow Island.
In a bid to overcome the issues, Chevron is undertaking drilling on Gorgon as part of a broad set of works that once finished will improve the facility’s capacity.
Mark Hatfield, managing director of Chevron Australia, told The Australian the works improving Gorgon illustrated the company’s commitment to meeting it CC&S targets.
“Carbon capture and storage is a technology that is reducing carbon emissions today.
“More than 10.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide have been safely stored to date at Gorgon – this is carbon abatement on a global scale,” said Mr Hatfield.
“We are committed to increasing carbon dioxide injection rates at Gorgon CCS. Our immediate focus is to increase injection rates through optimising our existing infrastructure, with work well underway.”
The Australian understands works involve the modification of four existing water producing wells to expand reservoir water extraction capacity, the installation of surface infrastructure to enhance water processing, and the expansion of two wells that will be supported by the drilling of two new such sites.
While the issues have been expensive for Chevron, environmentalists have seized on the perceived poorer results of the technology which affects public and government support.
Without proving to be viable on a grand scale, Australia’s LNG industry will struggle to maintain the broad social licence it needs. And if production growth slows, Asian customers – which have fewer opportunities to use renewable energy compared with Australia – will struggle to accelerate efforts to wean their economies off coal.
Chevron’s CC&S works come against the backdrop of Australia’s gas reckoning. The issue of Australia’s gas supply is now front and centre in the country’s election campaign, with the opposition vowing to drastically increase production should it win power.
Increased gas production nationally will temper concerns about looming east coast shortfalls and how LNG exports can coexist with satisfying domestic demand.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has warned the country’s east coast will experience structural shortfalls of gas by 2029. To overcome the issue, the Coalition has vowed to curtail uncontracted supplies that would have likely been exported for the domestic market. That policy has been roundly criticised by the LNG industry, with Origin Energy and Shell likely to be the two hardest hit.
The Coalition has vowed to hasten approvals for new projects, and many could turn to carbon capture and storage to offset emissions.
Samantha McCulloch, chief executive of the Australian Energy Producers industry group, said Australia should embrace the success of Chevron and the Moomba carbon capture and storage facility owned by Santos and Beach Energy.
“Here in Australia, there is this narrative that carbon capture and storage is not ready and it is too expensive. These two projects are contributing emission reductions five times larger than global green hydrogen production. These are meaningful emission reductions happening today and it is technology that is not necessarily getting the support it deserves,” Ms McCulloch said.
The federal Labor government has stripped hundreds of millions of dollars of financial assistance earmarked by the former Morrison government, and voted to abandon support for the technology in nearly all cases.
Still, for companies such as Woodside, the technology remains commercially unviable.
“The current decarbonisation cost for those technologies is $US200-$US500 per tonne so we need to get those costs down before that becomes a sensible decision for our shareholders,” Ms O’Neill told investors this week.
Woodside is under mounting pressure to demonstrate, however, its commitment to reducing emissions.
Woodside has set the target of achieving net zero direct emissions by 2050 – though some shareholders have pushed for the company to accelerate the target.
In a sign of the growing shareholder unrest, 58 per cent of Woodside shareholders voted against the company’s climate action plan in 2024. The defeat, although largely inconsequential, has forced the company to seek greater engagement as it moves to head-off the prospect of climate conscious investors voting against the re-election of two directors as a proxy for their dissatisfaction.
More Coverage
