Japan, Woodside sign MoU on CO2 storage feasibility study

Four Japanese companies - Sumitomo Corporation, JFE Steel, Sumitomo Osaka Cement, and K Line - have joined forces with Australia's Woodside to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a study that aims to explore the feasibility of aggregating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Japan and transporting those emissions to Australia for permanent storage, the companies said on December 18.

This study will investigate the viability of collecting CO2 using small-sized vessels from various emitters dispersed across the Setouchi and Shikoku regions of Japan. The emissions will be temporarily stored at a hub port in Japan before being transported to Australia via large-sized vessels for sequestration and long-term storage.

This cooperative effort is designed to achieve scalability, reduce costs, and establish a comprehensive carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain, a task that might be challenging for individual companies to accomplish independently, the companies said.

The initiative aligns with the Japanese government's goal of implementing policies to develop a business environment conducive to initiating CCS projects by 2030.

In a related development, Australian company Santos also announced on December 18 a partnership with Japanese companies JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation and Eneos Corporation. The collaboration aims to explore the potential capture, transport, and sequestration of emissions from Japan, supporting the expansion of the Santos-operated Moomba CCS project.