The framework and practice of CO2 storage resources evaluation: Santos Moomba CCS Project CO2 storage resources assessment
Chad Wilson A , Shane Hattingh B , Doug Peacock B and Tony Zhang B *A Santos, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
B GaffneyCline and Associates Pte Ltd, Singapore.
The APPEA Journal 63 S478-S482 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22275
Accepted: 20 March 2023 Published: 11 May 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA.
Abstract
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an essential climate technology for achieving net-zero and carbon neutrality towards mid-century. CCS has been included in many countries’ long-term climate change strategy, including Australia’s. In November 2021, Santos and its JV partner announced a final investment decision to proceed with the US$165 million (A$220 million) Moomba CCS Project in South Australia, with start-up expected in 2024. The project is expected to store 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 each year in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs. As a low-cost early mover project, Santos forecasted a full lifecycle cost of less than US$24 per tonne of CO2 including cash costs in operation of US$6–8 per tonne of CO2. GaffneyCline carried out an audit of Santos’ estimates of storage resource and reserve, and reported the audited quantities according to the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) CO2 Storage Resources Management System (SRMS) for the project. An SRMS assessment comprises three main factors: Injectivity, Storage, and Containment. For the most mature classification of Capacity, SRMS also includes an assessment of commerciality. This paper will discuss the SRMS evaluation process for the Moomba Project, both the technical assessment and commercial assessment (including revenue from Emissions Reduction Fund). With the growing deployment of CCS, it is reasonable to expect that stock exchanges, investors, and governments will have increasing demand for storage resources data reporting and auditing. This paper will discuss implications for public and private institutions.
Keywords: Australian Carbon Credit Units, carbon capture and storage, CCS cost, climate change, CO2 storage resources management system, containment, injectivity, storage.
Chad Wilson is Vice President, Energy Solutions, Santos. Chad has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering with Distinction. Chad joined Santos in 2014 and has held previous roles of Chief Production Engineer, General Manager of Cooper Development, and Vice President of Cooper Upstream. During his tenure, the Cooper Basin breakeven oil price was reduced by almost two-thirds, delivering a strongly cash flow positive business. In his current role, Chad has responsibility for the progression of Santos’ emissions reduction, carbon capture and storage, and clean fuels projects. Prior to joining Santos, Chad worked in various operational and engineering roles with Talisman Energy and Teck Cominco in Canada. |
Shane Hattingh is a Reservoir Engineer and United Kingdom Chartered Scientist, with over 34 years of industry and research experience acquired working for oil companies and consultancies. He is experienced in reserves and resources estimation, auditing and reporting, integrated reservoir studies and field development planning, and has a specialist interest in reservoir modelling and numerical simulation, in particular, fractured reservoirs. |
Doug Peacock is a Technical Director with GaffneyCline in Singapore and has over 35 years’ experience in geology and petrophysics with a particular emphasis on 3D reservoir modelling. His geological modelling experience covers all types of reservoirs in many parts of the world and ranges from building models for field development planning and reserves estimation purposes, to reviewing and auditing models built by others. Doug has also worked extensively on reserves estimating, unconventional reservoirs, acquisitions, and divestments as well as technical projects. He was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer in 2010–2011 and was a member of the SPE Oil and Gas Reserves Committee from 2013 to 2016. |
Tony Zhang is the Head, Carbon Management & Energy Transition – Asia Pacific for GaffneyCline, based in Melbourne. Tony has around 15 years of experience advising governments, IOCs, NOCs, industrial emitters (steel, cement, fertiliser, etc.), power companies, and financial institutions regarding CCUS and climate change matters. After finishing his PhD, he started his career as a research fellow on technology development and commercialisation. His recent roles include Senior Technical Adviser and Business Development Lead with the Global CCS Institute and Team Leader (consultant) with the Asian Development Bank supporting ADB technical assistance projects in developing nations. He has been a strong advocate of strategic partnerships in decarbonisation across the supply chain. |
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