Australia well positioned to become a CCUS leader

Abstract

Australia’s carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) sector could be set for fresh boost as oil and gas players are investing heavily in large-scale projects. In 2020, Australia emitted around 499 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent (CO₂e). Country-wide, only 2.5 million tonnes of CO₂ is captured and stored annually in the Gorgon CCUS project. Starting its CCUS journey on the wrong foot, Australia’s ambitious Gorgon project suffered from cost overruns, delays and much lower capture rates than planned. Nevertheless, 3 years after startup we now see renewed momentum on the back of significant budgetary support from the Federal Government, in addition to inclusion of CCUS projects in the Emissions Reduction Fund and Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU), which increased its value ever since. Large players are sizing up opportunities for CCUS in the country and to invest in research and development of next-generation CCUS as well as direct air capture technologies. Considering the vast CO₂ storage potential in depleted oil and gas fields and saline aquifers, Rystad Energy have identified three potential storage hotspots in Australia: the northwestern hub, the mid-eastern hub and the southeastern hub. These storage hubs have a cumulative CO₂ storage potential of 855 gigatonnes, that is located near to important industrial clusters and is sufficiently large, so it does not pose any barrier for CO₂ storage.