Global CCS Institute supports Gorgon FID announcement

The Global CCS Institute welcomes the decision of Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil to proceed with the construction of the Gorgon Project. The Gorgon Joint Venture’s announcement is the first major greenhouse gas storage project to be launched since the G8’s 2008 recommendation to implement 20 large scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects by 2020.

The project will bring into production Australia’s largest undeveloped gas reserves off the West-Australian Pilbara Coast, and will become Australia’s fourth LNG export development. An integral component of the Gorgon Project is the proposal to inject reservoir carbon dioxide (CO₂) contained in the natural gas into an underground reservoir below Barrow Island.

This will be the first commercial scale greenhouse gas storage project in Australia and will position the Gorgon Project as one of the world’s most greenhouse efficient LNG producers. At the time of the announcement, Gorgon represents the largest storage project in the world, proposing to inject over 3.4 million tonnes of CO₂ per year, or 120 million tonnes over the life of the project. Reservoir CO₂ makes up around 7 per cent of the raw natural gas stream to be processed on Barrow Island.

In the standard processing of natural gas, this naturally occurring CO₂ is stripped out and vented straight to the atmosphere. At Gorgon, the reservoir CO₂ will be compressed and injected into a geological formation more than 2000m below ground. This geological formation is sealed by a series of barriers that will prevent the migration of the injected CO₂ to the surface. The project will implement a full monitoring program to ensure the CO₂ is safely contained in the underground reservoir.

The Gorgon Joint Venturers have given a public commitment to the release of this monitoring data in order to assist others seeking to implement similar projects. Chevron, Shell and Exxon are Foundation Members of the Global CCS Institute and have indicated a willingness to work collaboratively to ensure that knowledge captured from the project can contribute to the accelerated deployment of future projects across the world. The Global CCS Institute looks forward to further announcements of large investments in CCS projects worldwide and to working in close collaboration with these future partners.