Securing the Australian CCS project rollout by improving aspects of the GHG storage legislation: a discussion paper
Geoffrey O’Brien A , Simone de Morton A * and David Bason AA
Geoff O’Brien is the Chief Scientist for CO2CRC. Geoff has over 35 years of experience in the marine research, petroleum, and CCS sectors and has worked in and for the petroleum industry as a petroleum systems and CCS technical specialist. He has also worked for Geoscience Australia, where he was the Research Group Leader for the Marine Environment & Offshore Petroleum Group, as a research consultant at the University of Adelaide, as the Energy Geoscience Manager at Geoscience Victoria and as the Chief Geoscientist for NOPTA. Dr O’Brien has a comprehensive understanding knowledge of Australia’s sedimentary basin systems and their petroleum potential, and over the past 15 years has become increasingly involved in the CCS sector. A passion is the development of tailored and targeted CCS work programs that relate specifically to the ultimate regulatory requirements, thereby facilitating the Pathway to Storage and providing greater efficiencies for CCS project proponents. |
Simone de Morton is a Techno-Regulatory Advisor at CO2CRC with 8 years of experience in the industry, holding a PhD in Geology along with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree. Simone has worked as a Production Geologist and Exploration Geologist at ExxonMobil Australia and as a Geologist at the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA). At CO2CRC, Simone has combined her extensive regulatory and geological expertise to provide techno-regulatory guidance to CCS project proponents and has delivered CCS regulatory educational courses to non-technical professionals. |
David Bason is a Senior Reservoir Engineer with CO2CRC in Melbourne, Victoria with 15 years of experience in the Energy industry. David is currently developing the latest research program for Stage 4 CO2 experiments at the Otway International Test Centre. David also consults to CO2Tech on various CCUS-focused projects. He holds an MPhys from the University of Manchester, UK, and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt University in Aberdeen, UK. David has previously worked as a reservoir engineer for Woodside Energy and as a consultant with EY. |
Abstract
The respective Federal petroleum and greenhouse-gas (GHG) storage legislation was examined in detail to understand the interactions between the technical requirements in the legislation, the overarching emissions-policy framework and the existing and likely future technical capabilities of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry. Key elements of the GHG legislation were then stress-tested using CCS project examples to determine applicability. The number of CCS projects required to meet the nation’s emission reduction targets over the next 5–25 years is high (probably between 20–40 projects of 4 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa)), but the existing 8–10 year approvals timeline provides only a maximum of 2.5 full project cycles to undertake 20–40 projects, a goal not considered possible without substantial regulatory reform. Opportunities for improvement should focus on facilitating a robust and rapid CCS project rollout and could include the following: changing the legislation to facilitate the accelerated utilisation of depleted petroleum fields to storage facilities, including allowing the progressive expansion of the awarded injection licence (IL); changing the concept of containment to emphasise carbon dioxide (CO2) plume management via assessing risk and potential impacts, not by artificial constraints into GHG permits and licences; including unitisation and combination pathways in the GHG legislation; ‘CO2 plume’ is not defined in legislation, even though the spatial location of a plume is central to numerous approvals, such as declaration of storage, demonstrating containment and all measurement, monitoring and verification (MMV) programs; developing a framework to manage future CCS project interactions at a basin scale, as is undertaken in groundwater management onshore.
Keywords: Australia, Australian GHG legislation, carbon capture and storage, CCS, CCS projects through time, CO2 plume definition, emission policies, GHG unitisation and combination certificates, historical basis of GHG legislation, informed pore space management, regulatory reform.
Geoff O’Brien is the Chief Scientist for CO2CRC. Geoff has over 35 years of experience in the marine research, petroleum, and CCS sectors and has worked in and for the petroleum industry as a petroleum systems and CCS technical specialist. He has also worked for Geoscience Australia, where he was the Research Group Leader for the Marine Environment & Offshore Petroleum Group, as a research consultant at the University of Adelaide, as the Energy Geoscience Manager at Geoscience Victoria and as the Chief Geoscientist for NOPTA. Dr O’Brien has a comprehensive understanding knowledge of Australia’s sedimentary basin systems and their petroleum potential, and over the past 15 years has become increasingly involved in the CCS sector. A passion is the development of tailored and targeted CCS work programs that relate specifically to the ultimate regulatory requirements, thereby facilitating the Pathway to Storage and providing greater efficiencies for CCS project proponents. |
Simone de Morton is a Techno-Regulatory Advisor at CO2CRC with 8 years of experience in the industry, holding a PhD in Geology along with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree. Simone has worked as a Production Geologist and Exploration Geologist at ExxonMobil Australia and as a Geologist at the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA). At CO2CRC, Simone has combined her extensive regulatory and geological expertise to provide techno-regulatory guidance to CCS project proponents and has delivered CCS regulatory educational courses to non-technical professionals. |
David Bason is a Senior Reservoir Engineer with CO2CRC in Melbourne, Victoria with 15 years of experience in the Energy industry. David is currently developing the latest research program for Stage 4 CO2 experiments at the Otway International Test Centre. David also consults to CO2Tech on various CCUS-focused projects. He holds an MPhys from the University of Manchester, UK, and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt University in Aberdeen, UK. David has previously worked as a reservoir engineer for Woodside Energy and as a consultant with EY. |
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