Commercialising carbon capture and storage – how much does regulatory certainty truly matter?
Polly Mahapatra A * and Rob Creswell AA
Polly Mahapatra is currently a Project Engineer in the Major Capital Projects function at Chevron Australia. She has previously won the APPEA Best Oral Presentation Award (2022), been nominated as a finalist for the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy ‘Outstanding Young Woman of the Year’ 2020 award, and WA Business News’ 40under40 Award, however her true passion lies in innovation in the energy industry. Polly has previously worked on various Major Capital Projects for Chevron, including Gorgon and Wheatstone. She is passionate about improving efficiencies and the application of novel project management ideologies in the world of Capital Projects. Her expertise and experience are in the topic of strategic innovation and new ways of working to optimise the delivery of industrial scale, multi-billion Capital Projects. She is published in the APPEA Journal (2021 & 2022) and is currently undertaking research in the space CCUS commercialisation. |
Rob Creswell is an energy professional with an extensive background in the oil and gas industry. He boasts comprehensive knowledge and technical proficiency in onshore and offshore operations, including upstream/subsea and downstream facilities. With experience spanning multi-discipline and project engineering roles, Rob has worked on major projects like Wheatstone and Gorgon Foundation, UCU Alliance Phase 22, North West Shelf Venture Train 4, Angola LNG and InterOil PNG Refinery. His expertise extends to decision analysis and project optimisation, business development, and operator decision-making support. Rob is well-versed in project management practices, promoting a factory, continuous-improvement approach. He is known for delivering optimal results, fostering talent development and collaboration, and establishing Chevron’s Decision Making function in Australia. Rob’s local values and global experiences have contributed to his success in the energy industry. Rob is an Assurance & Risk Engineer in Chevron’s Australasian Strategic Business Unit Capital Project Factory, facilitating delivery of lower carbon energy solutions at scale. |
Abstract
With carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology advancement reaching a point of scalability, there is a desperate need for global regulatory and legislative frameworks to support large-scale commercialisation. With various economies at differing stages of updating their policy and regulatory frameworks, the impact on investment into large-scale CCUS projects is an area worth interrogating to understand whether regulatory certainty has material impact on viability of a CCUS project, or whether the bulk of the project economics are still driven by traditional cost components. This paper seeks to undertake a literature review of current regulatory and policy frameworks such as the US Inflation Reduction Act 2022 and Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism to undertake a relative comparison of the two leading regulatory policies on large-scale carbon capture and storage. This paper will also undertake a comparison of a theoretical large-scale carbon capture and storage project subject to each type of regulatory condition to estimate the potential impact on project viability in each scenario. The aim of the paper is to understand the magnitude of impact that regulatory policies can have on commercialisation of a large-scale CCUS project.
Keywords: Australia, capture, carbon, economics, project, regulatory, storage, US, utilisation.
Polly Mahapatra is currently a Project Engineer in the Major Capital Projects function at Chevron Australia. She has previously won the APPEA Best Oral Presentation Award (2022), been nominated as a finalist for the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy ‘Outstanding Young Woman of the Year’ 2020 award, and WA Business News’ 40under40 Award, however her true passion lies in innovation in the energy industry. Polly has previously worked on various Major Capital Projects for Chevron, including Gorgon and Wheatstone. She is passionate about improving efficiencies and the application of novel project management ideologies in the world of Capital Projects. Her expertise and experience are in the topic of strategic innovation and new ways of working to optimise the delivery of industrial scale, multi-billion Capital Projects. She is published in the APPEA Journal (2021 & 2022) and is currently undertaking research in the space CCUS commercialisation. |
Rob Creswell is an energy professional with an extensive background in the oil and gas industry. He boasts comprehensive knowledge and technical proficiency in onshore and offshore operations, including upstream/subsea and downstream facilities. With experience spanning multi-discipline and project engineering roles, Rob has worked on major projects like Wheatstone and Gorgon Foundation, UCU Alliance Phase 22, North West Shelf Venture Train 4, Angola LNG and InterOil PNG Refinery. His expertise extends to decision analysis and project optimisation, business development, and operator decision-making support. Rob is well-versed in project management practices, promoting a factory, continuous-improvement approach. He is known for delivering optimal results, fostering talent development and collaboration, and establishing Chevron’s Decision Making function in Australia. Rob’s local values and global experiences have contributed to his success in the energy industry. Rob is an Assurance & Risk Engineer in Chevron’s Australasian Strategic Business Unit Capital Project Factory, facilitating delivery of lower carbon energy solutions at scale. |
References
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