Korea-Australia Cross-Border CCS Promotion Cooperation MOU
Joint Development of Australian Carbon Storage CCS Project Officially Launched
SK E&S is collaborating with Australian energy company Santos to develop a transboundary CCS (carbon capture and storage) project that collects carbon dioxide generated in Korea and transports and stores it in Australian storage facilities.
On the 30th, SK E&S announced on the 31st that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Santos in Sydney, Australia, for mutual cooperation in promoting transboundary CCS between Korea and Australia. This MOU is based on the Australian carbon dioxide storage sites jointly developed by the two companies, including the G-11-AP block in the Northern Territory offshore, and aims to cooperate in developing transboundary CCS projects between Korea and Australia in the future.
The G-11-AP carbon dioxide storage project is a CCS exploration project that injects carbon dioxide into a deep saline aquifer in the Bonaparte Basin offshore northern Australia. In August last year, SK E&S secured exploration rights for the G-11-AP block jointly with global energy companies such as Santos and Chevron. After verifying the project's feasibility and completing other procedures, the block will be developed as a carbon dioxide storage site. Deep saline aquifers are geological formations containing highly saline groundwater (brine), and because the spaces previously filled with brine can safely store carbon dioxide, they are considered optimal formations for carbon dioxide storage alongside depleted oil and gas fields.
On the 30th, at the Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park Hotel in Sydney, Australia, Allen Stewart Grant Santos, Vice President of Eco-friendly Energy (left), and Kim Il-young, Head of Upstream Division at SK E&S, posed for a commemorative photo after signing a Memorandum of Understanding for mutual cooperation on cross-border CCS promotion between Korea and Australia during the "32nd Korea-Australia Energy Resources Cooperation Committee" linked "Korea-Australia Hydrogen and CCUS Business Seminar." Photo by SK E&S
The two companies plan to cooperate to accelerate the transboundary CCS project that collects carbon dioxide generated in Korea and transports and stores it in Australian storage sites by utilizing the G-11-AP block as a storage facility. To this end, they will secure carbon dioxide storage demand within Korea from power plants and industrial sites and strive to ensure timely development of carbon dioxide storage sites, including the G-11-AP block. They also agreed to mutually cooperate in establishing the institutional foundation necessary for promoting transboundary CCS.
With the 32nd Korea-Australia Energy and Resources Cooperation Committee held on this day as a turning point, consultations between the two countries for Korea’s first carbon border transfer agreement have become more visible, raising expectations that the transboundary CCS project jointly promoted by SK E&S and Santos will gain momentum. The signing ceremony, held under the attendance of Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, was attended by Kim Il-young, Head of Upstream Division at SK E&S, and Alan Stewart Grant, Vice President of Green Energy at Santos, who signed the agreement.
Through this MOU, SK E&S and Santos plan to strengthen cooperation not only in the ongoing CCS storage site development projects but also in developing various Korea-Australia transboundary CCS projects.
The two companies are already pursuing a plan to utilize the depleted Bayu-Undan gas field in the nearby Timor Sea as a carbon dioxide storage site in connection with the Barossa gas field development project in Australia. Carbon dioxide captured during natural gas production at the Barossa gas field will be permanently stored in the Bayu-Undan gas field, and carbon dioxide captured during the domestic blue hydrogen production process using the resulting low-carbon LNG as feedstock will also be stored in the Bayu-Undan gas field.
Furthermore, if additional carbon dioxide storage sites are successfully developed, SK E&S will secure a 'global CCS hub' centered on northern Australia and the Timor Sea. As the role of CCS technology in achieving carbon neutrality grows worldwide and competition for storage sites to inject captured carbon dioxide intensifies, this will enable securing large-scale overseas storage facilities to safely store domestically generated carbon dioxide.
Australia is on the verge of parliamentary approval of legislation ratifying the amendment to the London Protocol, which allows cross-border transfer of captured carbon dioxide. Australia, geographically close to Korea and endowed with abundant potential carbon dioxide storage sites such as depleted oil and gas fields and deep saline aquifers, has also set plans to foster the CCS industry. Once the London Protocol amendment is ratified, enabling the export and import of carbon dioxide, cooperation on Korea-Australia transboundary CCS projects is expected to expand further.
Kim Il-young, Head of Upstream Division at SK E&S, said, "Considering the increasing global demand for carbon dioxide storage, securing storage sites and early establishment of the transboundary CCS value chain are of utmost importance. We will continue to cooperate with Santos to provide various CCS solutions for carbon reduction in Korea."
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