Woodside-led Joint Venture awarded greenhouse gas assessment permit in Western Australia

The Joint Venture, comprised of Woodside Energy Ltd, BP Developments Australia Pty Ltd (bp), Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsui & Co., Ltd-owned Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty Ltd, Shell Australia Pty Ltd, and Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, has been awarded the greenhouse gas assessment permit in the Northern Carnarvon Basin off the north-western coast of Western Australia.

In a statement, Woodside said the permit, which is around 125 kilometres north-west of Dampier and covers an area of 1775 square kilometres, houses the depleted Angel Gas Field. The Joint Venture has vast knowledge and existing data about the field after decades of petroleum production and exploration, Woodside added

Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill welcomed the permit award as another critical step towards developing a pioneering, multi-user carbon capture and storage (CCS) near Karratha.

“The successful deployment of CCS in Western Australia has the potential to create new jobs, protect current jobs, and contribute to achieving greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets,” O’Neill said.

According to Woodside, the permit award marks a significant accomplishment for the Joint Venture as it continues to evaluate the technical, regulatory, and commercial feasibility of capturing carbon emissions from various industries in a given location near Karratha, Western Australia. 

Moving forward, the Joint Venture will proceed with evaluation and appraisal work to look into the potential for the geological storage of carbon dioxide in the permit area.

According to Woodside, a multi-user (CCS) project near Karratha would be suitable for aggregating emissions from various sources. By offering a local solution for emissions, the company added, it would also have the potential to facilitate the development of new lower-carbon industries like the production of hydrogen and ammonia. 

The scale of the CCS facility is subject to the completion of additional technical, regulatory, and commercial studies, but theoretically, it might have a processing capability of up to 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

MIMI Managing Director and CEO Hiroyuki Kurahashi said the company is pleased that the permit was awarded to the Joint Venture. She expressed the company’s excitement to work with its partners in contributing to the environmental solution by helping to manage and reduce carbon dioxide emissions through the multi-user CCS project.

bp Vice President Australia Gas and Low Carbon Energy Rachel Risucci said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for bp, working alongside our joint venture partners, to leverage our deep global expertise and explore the establishment of a large-scale, multi-user CCS hub to help decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors, and underpin Australia’s energy transition.”

Meanwhile, Shell Australia Country Chair Tony Nunan stated that the company believe CCS will be essential in supporting society in achieving net zero emissions, particularly for sectors that are hard to decarbonise.

“Collaboration within the industry, as well as with government and customers, is going to be key in the development of this critical emissions reduction technology and we look forward to working with our joint venture partners as we investigate the potential of this permit area,” Chevron Australia Manager Director Mark Hatfield said.