The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) has welcomed the opening of the bids for the next round of the offshore greenhouse gas storage acreage, noting it marks a milestone in Australia’s carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology deployment.
According to APPEA, the announcement would help Australia accelerate its path to net zero emissions and support the establishment of a new carbon management industry.
APPEA Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch said the country has a significant opportunity to generate new jobs and attract new investments by developing carbon capture technology.
“CCUS should be part of this nation’s DNA just like gas production has been for decades because it is basically the gas extraction process in reverse — trapping the emissions in deep geological formations, often in former gas fields,” McCulloch stated.
She noted that with countries such as the US and the UK announcing major cleaner energy programs centred on carbon capture technology, Australia must capitalise on these to secure both carbon reductions and the economic gains from these new industries.
“There is growing momentum for CCUS globally as well as increasing recognition of the opportunity of the technology to attract new investment, create new jobs, build a major new industry for Australia, and support emissions reductions across the economy and the region,” she said.
‘’CCUS will be particularly important to address emissions in hard-to-abate industries like cement, iron and steel and chemical production where few alternatives exist, as well as in scaling up low-carbon hydrogen, where natural gas with CCUS is the lowest cost production method today,” she added.
Independent authorities such as the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Australia’s Climate Change Authority (CCA), and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have all identified CCUS as critical to reaching net zero.
