For release on 4 March 2020
CO2CRC is today bringing together leading Australian energy and resources companies and advisory bodies at Australian Parliament House, Canberra.
The inaugural CO2CRC CCS Policy Forum will be convened to develop a consensus industry view on a practical CCS policy framework that will stimulate CCS project investment and development in Australia.
CO2CRC Chairman, Martin Ferguson AM, said that CO2CRC was pleased to begin this important initiative, leveraging industry leadership to help address the policy barriers and gaps that are holding back bigger investment in CCS.
“CCS is a proven technology and CO2CRC has a long and proud history of collaborating with industry to develop and deliver better and more cost-effective technologies for CCS.
“What we need to do is develop the right policy settings for further investment. This forum presents the opportunity to engage closely with industry and government to apply our knowledge and know-how to develop robust and practical policies and regulatory guidelines which can give investors the clarity and confidence to fund carbon capture and storage projects,” he said.
The forum will be chaired by Mr Kevin Gallagher, Managing Director and CEO of Santos. Members of the forum also include senior representatives of BHP, Chevron, COAL21, ENI, ExxonMobil, the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, J-Power, Shell and Woodside.
“The Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor’s plan to focus on hydrogen and CCS in the development of a technology investment roadmap is progressive and timely,” said Mr Gallagher.
“With the world demanding more hydrocarbons for at least the next two decades, any serious response to climate change must include pathways to make these fuels cleaner.
“Australia could be a world leader in CCS and is already home to the world’s largest commercial-scale CO2 injection project at the Gorgon LNG facility on Barrow Island, off the northwest coast of WA. Gorgon is progressively ramping up to full capacity of up to 4Mtpa of safe and permanent storage of CO2.
“Santos is also exploring the opportunity for CCS in the Cooper Basin which can be delivered very competitively at less than A$30 per tonne. FEED has commenced on a 1.7 Mtpa CCS project, which will take the CO2 already captured at the Moomba Gas Plant and store it in the same reservoirs which have held oil and gas in place for tens of millions of years.”
Mr Gallagher said the CCS Policy Forum will work with governments, industry and other stakeholders to urgently progress suitable policy settings and a regulatory framework to accelerate the development and deployment of CCS technology in Australia, providing large-scale, permanent carbon abatement and emissions reduction.
“Governments have a pivotal role to play by providing a clear, stable and supportive policy framework for CCS. The scaling up of deployment will only be achieved if there is a clear commercial case to invest in CCS,” he said.
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For more information please contact:
Roy Anderson, CO2CRC communications on 03 8595 9600 or roy.anderson@co2crc.com.au