South Australian companies Santos and Beach Energy have officially opened the nation's first large-scale onshore carbon capture and storage project at Moomba in the Cooper Basin.
The Moomba Carbon Capture and Storage project (Moomba CCS) started up in October last year and has already sequestered 340,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent.
At full ramp up – which has already been reached within weeks of first injection – Moomba CCS can store up to 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.
That's equivalent to taking 700,000 cars off the road – or approximately 10 per cent of South Australia's total annual emissions in 2022.
The cutting-edge Moomba CCS project, which is a joint venture between Santos and fellow South Australian company Beach Energy has the potential to demonstrate how Australia can assist other nations in their efforts to decarbonise industry.
As the Moomba CCS grows over subsequent phases of development, the project has potential to provide carbon storage for companies across Australia and the Asian region.
As put by Peter Malinauskas
This is an historic day for our state which has a proud record in leading the world in the efforts to decarbonise.
Gas plays an important part in that effort, in supporting South Australia's world leading investment in renewable energy.
And now, through great South Australian companies in Santos and Beach, the gasfields at Moomba have the potential to become a storage site for carbon generated by industries across Australia and throughout the Asian region.
My Government is thoroughly committed to improving the living standards and prosperity of South Australians by leveraging our already world-leading position on decarbonisation.
This project is a fine example of how we can do just that.
As put by Santos CEO and Managing Director Kevin Gallagher
We have made history out at Moomba. It's a first for Santos, it's a first for South Australia and a first for Australia in terms of large-scale, onshore CCS.
This project is delivering immediate and real large-scale emissions reduction for the company and for Australia at a very competitive cost of under A$49 per tonne.
At full injection rates Moomba CCS avoids more CO2 in four days than 10,000 electric vehicles save in one year.
And in just one year, Moomba CCS will achieve around 28 per cent of the total emissions reduction achieved by Australia's entire electricity sector in 2023.
The scale CCS offers is a gamechanger for decarbonisation in Australia and the region.
Leading global energy research firm, Wood Mackenzie, estimates Australia could unlock up to A$600 billion in revenue by creating a CCS industry and becoming a storage hub for the Asia-Pacific region.
As put by Beach Energy CE and Managing Director Brett Woods
Completion of the Moomba CCS project is a landmark moment in Australia's emissions reduction capacity and is making a material impact to Beach's emissions.
Carbon capture and storage is a critical enabler for low emissions energy supply and puts Beach on track to achieve our 2030 emissions intensity reduction target of 35%.
At Beach, we're proud to be partnering with Santos on real projects that are delivering real emissions abatement, in the South Australian outback."
At capacity, the emissions reduction delivered by Moomba CCS is equivalent to taking 700,000 petrol cars off our roads each year.
And that could be just the beginning. We already have many more millions of tonnes of CO2 storage capacity available for potential expansion cases.
The consensus is that natural gas will play a key role in the energy transition for decades to come and the International Energy Agency said it will be "virtually impossible" to reach net zero by 2050 without carbon capture utilisation and storage.
Therefore, Moomba CCS delivers South Australia and Australia a significant opportunity.
