Chevron nears milestone for Gorgon GHG reductions

Chevron Australia on July 19 said it is poised to reach a “significant milestone” at its Gorgon LNG facility, injecting 5mn metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) since starting the system in August 2019.

This represents the largest volume of injection achieved within this time frame by any environmental carbon capture and storage (CCS) system of comparable specifications, it said.

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“This significant milestone shows how we’re deploying technology, innovation and skills to deliver cleaner energy and reduce our carbon footprint,” Chevron Australia managing director Mark Hatfield said.

“The Gorgon CCS system is the biggest CCS system designed to capture carbon emissions and is demonstrating Australia’s world-leading capability in the area,” he added.

Once fully operational, the system will capture up to 4mn mt/year of CO₂ and reduce GHG emissions by more than 100mn mt over the life of the injection project. The system works by taking naturally occurring CO₂ from offshore gas reservoirs and injecting it in a giant sandstone formation 2 km under Barrow Island, where it remains trapped.

Hatfield said while the system had delivered significant reductions in Gorgon’s emissions, the time taken to safely start the system meant Chevron had not met injection requirements.

"Chevron is working with the Western Australia regulator on making up the shortfall and will report publicly on that later in the year," Hatfield said. “We’re committed to sharing the lessons we’ve learned with state and federal governments, research institutes and other energy producers to assist the deployment of CCS in Australia.”

The Chevron-operated Gorgon Project is a joint venture between Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, Osaka Gas, Tokyo Gas and Jera.

Australian upstream association Appea in a separate statement said that this milestone would not only be an achievement for the company’s emissions reduction efforts, but for the development of CCS technology as well. 

“Australia has a natural competitive advantage to implement CCS with known high quality, stable geological storage basins, existing infrastructure, world-class technical expertise and regulatory regimes,” Appea said. “Additionally, as CCS technology continues to develop, it will also help to open other avenues, such as the development of large-scale hydrogen projects.”