By Peter Milne
Chevron expects the performance of its troubled seven-year attempt to bury carbon dioxide from its Gorgon gas export plant to dip in 2023 after a poor year when it only operated at one-third of its design capacity.
This masthead can reveal the US oil and gas giant told the WA government it expected to inject 7 per cent less carbon dioxide under Barrow Island in 2023 than it achieved in 2022.
Chevron’s CCS project at its Gorgon LNG plant has consistently failed to achieve its design capacity.Credit: Chevron
The forecast was based on the need to restrict the rate of injecting carbon dioxide two kilometres under the island to manage the pressure in the formation and keep “induced microseismicity” – or feint earth tremors – within allowed limits.
Carbon storage at Gorgon is of international interest as it is the largest attempt in the world to bury CO2 to reduce carbon pollution.
Its disappointing record to date is tarnishing the credibility of a technology that some tout as essential to slowing climate change and others damn as an excuse to produce more fossil fuels.
The predicted poor performance in 2023 that will result in more carbon pollution released to the atmosphere was detailed in an annual report to the WA government obtained with a freedom of information request from WAtoday.
As carbon dioxide is injected underground, wells several kilometres away should pump water out of the same formation to ensure the pressure does not become excessive. The water is then injected into a different geological formation under Barrow Island.
However, according to the report, the presence of solids, gas and oil in the water pumped to the surface has made the water difficult to dispose of.
Chevron, which has already spent $3.2 billion on CO2 injection at Gorgon, plans a “significant additional investment” to modify the water wells and do other work to allow 4.6 million tonnes of water a year to be moved to make way for storing carbon dioxide.
Chevron told the WA government in the report that it planned to start drilling work in early 2024.
The Gorgon liquified natural gas plant produced more greenhouse gases in the 12 months to June 2022 than any other industrial facility in Australia.
Chevron was allowed to build the $US54 billion ($79 billion) project on the island, despite it being a nature reserve, as it was thought to be an ideal place to bury the high level of carbon dioxide in the Gorgon gas field.
Under an agreement with the WA government, Chevron is required to inject underground at least 80 per cent of the CO2 from the gas fields that supply its gas export plant.
Chevron was asked when it expected to meet that requirement and did not answer. In November, a spokesman said it would be a “number of years” before the system was working well.
A Chevron spokesman said the Gorgon carbon, capture and storage system was complex, pioneering technology.
“Gorgon CCS is working – every day, carbon dioxide is being stored,” he said.
“It is one of the largest greenhouse gas abatement projects in the world and has captured and stored more than eight million tonnes of CO2 since starting up in 2019.”
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