Carbon capture and natural gas to fuel Australia’s net zero emission targets, says APPEA boss Samantha McCulloch

Australia and the world needs more natural gas, not less, says APPEA’s new chief executive as she takes aim at her previous employer, the International Energy Agency.

Australia needs more carbon capture and storage projects like this plant in Saudi Arabia, which can capture 500,000 metric tons of CO2 per year, says the new boss of the APPEA.

Australia must not miss out on the global rush to carbon capture projects, the head of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association warns, saying they are crucial to meeting net zero emissions targets

APPEA chief executive Samantha McCulloch, who joined the organisation after running carbon capture, utilisation and storage at the International Energy Agency (IEA), also says natural gas will fuel emission reduction strategies.

Ms McCulloch’s comments put her at odds with her previous employer, the IEA, which declared in May that “no new oil and natural gas fields are needed in the net zero pathway”.

It comes as the Albanese government has extended the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism from its expiry date of next January until 2030. Ms McCulloch said natural gas – combined with carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects – would create a greener future.

“The world is pushing ahead with a number of CCUS projects, and Australia must not miss this opportunity,” Ms McCulloch wrote in an opinion piece published in The Australian today.

“CCUS is a subject I am very familiar with, having recently concluded a role in Paris as head of the IEA’s CCUS team. It’s the same body that declared in a report last year that the world does not need new supplies of oil and gas – the very thing I am calling for today.

“Constraints on gas supply will be a brake on global efforts to meet net zero and result in higher emissions that will quickly eclipse any cuts achieved here in Australia.”

APPEA’s new chief executive Samantha McCulloch.

Despite sparking much talk in the past two decades, carbon capture projects in Australia have gained little momentum but Ms McCulloch said it was now time for the rubber to hit the road.

“The role that carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) – a proven and viable technology that is recognised by authorities like the IEA as crucial to net zero – will play (is key) to get to net zero.

“Without CCUS, we have limited or no solutions for tackling emissions from heavy industry sectors,” Ms McCulloch said.

“CCUS will also support a faster and cheaper scale-up of clean hydrogen produced from natural gas and will underpin technology to remove carbon from the atmosphere.”

Amid the global frenzy, the tide has slowly begun to turn in Australia. Woodside Petroleum is mulling carbon capture and storage for its Browse project, while rival Santos has been awarded CCUS permits in the Carnarvon and Bonaparte basins off Western Australia’s coast.

Ms McCulloch praised Resources Minister Madeleine King for recently releasing 10 new gas acreage areas in Victoria, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Ashmore and Cartier Islands.

“New supply also drives economic activity. The industry already contributes up to $500bn in economic activity each year, boosting public services and infrastructure like roads, schools and hospitals,” Ms McCulloch said.

“We have announced more than $20bn of new supply investment in Australia in the past two years, injecting stimulus into local and regional economies and supply chain businesses.

“But bans and uncertainty in some jurisdictions have hampered investment. More investment can be brought forward – but only if the policy settings are right, and initiatives like the Commonwealth’s acreage releases provide the foundation.”