Santos Ltd. has signed four MOUs for the proposed storage of carbon dioxide emissions from third parties in the Timor Sea to underpin initial development of the Bayu-Undan carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.
The company said the four non-binding MOUs have been executed with potential upstream gas and LNG projects offshore Northern Territory, Australia, and in Darwin as well as with an energy and industrial conglomerate in South Korea.
The MOUs indicate demand for carbon dioxide storage at Bayu-Undan could be in excess of 10 million tonnes/year. Parties to the MOUs will now work towards securing binding commitments, Santos said.
Front-end engineering and design of the Bayu-Undan CCS project is nearing completion. A final investment decision is targeted for 2025.
The CCS project is billed as a relatively low-cost carbon solution, expected to be well within the Australian Government’s proposed price cap on Australian carbon credit units. Santos described it as providing a potential emissions solution for Australia’s LNG exports to Asia, with large customers in countries like South Korea looking to capture energy and industrial emissions and ship carbon dioxide to Australia for sequestration.
Darwin is set to be an important regional hub for carbon dioxide capture, transport, and storage to Bayu-Undan as well as other potential CCS locations offshore Northern Territory that are still in the exploratory and feasibility stages.
