The Northern Territory Low Emission Hub Business Case project, established on 26 October 2021, is accelerating efforts to reduce emissions in Northern Australia and accelerate the creation of low-emission advanced manufacturing industries.

Project partners, including the CSIRO, industry and engineering companies, are developing a business case to accelerate pathways to CCUS realisation in the Territory. It will apply best practice learnings from international low emission industrial hub projects and techno-economic models to map development pathways and highlight investment opportunities.

The project will also consider all technology solutions and engage with industry and community stakeholder groups.

The partnership is advancing potentially the largest CCUS project in the world to transform existing industry, enable low-emissions hydrogen, ammonia and petrochemicals sectors in the Territory.

CCUS technologies are not new.

It's a proven decarbonisation process, successfully used in Europe for over 25 years, that captures carbon preventing entry to the atmosphere.

CCUS technologies are considered a key element in supporting energy-intensive industries to reduce emissions and lead the transition towards net zero emissions by 2050.

CCUS combines two carbon management techniques to first capture carbon emissions, followed by either:

• transport for permanent storage underground in geological formations, a similar process to the way oil and gas has been trapped naturally underground for millions of years
• use as a feedstock for the production of ammonia, urea and methanol, as well as condensate refining to deliver building materials, fuels, polymers and chemical intermediates as part of circular economy principals.

CCUS is a decarbonisation solution available today with a declining cost profile and deployment advancing across the globe. It can support significant carbon abatement from a range of industries today as clean energy technologies and renewable energy solutions accelerate.

CCUS is a critical enabler to realising low-emissions industries at the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct.

It can support significant carbon abatement from a range of heavy industries today as our transition accelerates towards clean energy technologies and renewable energy solutions

The proposed Middle Arm Precinct industrial ecology and CCUS hub co-location minimises capital-intensive construction and ongoing operating cost to benefit all precinct occupants, and is further enhanced by proximal offshore geological storage to reduce pipeline and transport costs.

Realisation of a CCUS Hub in the Territory will enable:

• decarbonisation of existing industries, such as natural gas processing, enabling critical sectors to continue and grow as they transition towards net zero emissions
• accelerated realisation of low-carbon hydrogen to fast track fossil fuel transitions
• low-emission petrochemicals production and critical minerals processing vital for emerging technologies such as electric vehicles and batteries.

Carbon captured at Middle Arm could be transported via pipeline to geological storage located in the Petrel Sub-basin, just 180 km west of Darwin and in the Bayu-Undan facility 500 kms to our west in the Timor Sea.

Decades of research highlight the Petrel Sub-basin as a highly prospective, low-cost geological storage site, with capacity in excess of 20 million tonnes of carbon per year, with an effective storage capacity of 6.48 gigatonnes. Figuratively this is the capacity to store around 374 years of carbon produced across the Northern Territory each year, or 13 years Australia-wide, based on 2020 emissions.

The Bayu-Undan CCUS project has the potential to store up to 10 million tonnes of carbon per annum, equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions each year.

Significant integration benefits also come with CCUS technologies, enabling industries like urea production to use carbon generated from other industries as feedstock enhancing production value.

Collaboration is essential to realise decarbonisation solutions, pave the way for substantial industry growth and transition towards a net zero emissions future.

INPEX-led Bonaparte Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage Project

This project is a joint venture between INPEX, Woodside Energy and Total Energies who were awarded a greenhouse gas storage assessment permit in 2022 from the 2021 Offshore Greenhouse Gas Storage Acreage Release.

A geological storage exploration and appraisal work program in the Petrel Sub­-basin is underway to assess the viability of this highly prospective storage resource.

The project is a significant step towards realising a large-scale CCUS Hub at the proposed Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct and has the potential to become one of the largest CCUS projects in the world.

The Petrel Sub-basin, as part of the Bonaparte Basin 180 km west of Darwin, is considered a highly prospective geological storage site. It has a storage capacity of 20 million tonnes per year with a total capacity of 6.48 gigatonnes in this individual reservoir.

Figuratively this is the capacity to store around 374 years of carbon produced across the Northern Territory each year, or 13 years Australia-wide, based on 2020 emissions.

The INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG facility located at Middle Arm would be a significant user of this CCUS facility as it seeks to reduce its emissions and advance realisation of a net-zero carbon society by 2050. INPEX are targeting operation in 2026 with investment estimated up to 100 billion yen (A$1.2 billion).

The project proposes to start injecting 2 million tonnes or more of carbon per year from the onshore processing facility as a first step, and could be expanded to capture 7 million tonnes of carbon per year.

Santos-led Bayu-Undan Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage Project

Testing the viability of the existing Bayu-Undan infrastructure in the Timor Sea and using the reservoir for carbon capture storage is underway by Santos, operator of the Bayu-Undan offshore gas production facility.

Front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase milestones for the project were announced in early 2022 with a final investment decision is targeted for 2023.

A memorandum of understanding has been established between the operator and the Timor-Leste regulator to explore opportunities to permanently store approximately ten million tonnes of carbon per year.

In 2022 Santos operators of the Barossa Project joint venture and Darwin LNG facility, announced a final investment decision to proceed with the $311 million Darwin Pipeline Duplication Project.

This project will see the existing Bayu-Undan to Darwin pipeline be repurposed to facilitate CCUS. The new duplication pipeline will transport gas from the offshore Barossa Field, located 300 kilometres north of Darwin, to the onshore Darwin LNG facility at Middle Arm.

Barossa Field gas is intended to replace the current supply from the Bayu-Undan facility with production targeted in the first half of 2025. The Pipeline Duplication Project will allow for the Barossa Project to be CCUS ready.

The Bayu-Undan CCUS project has the potential to store up to 10 million tonnes of carbon per annum, equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions each year.

Work is scheduled to commence on the Darwin Pipeline Duplication project in 2023, subject to Australian and Northern Territory Government regulatory approvals.