Oz Santos to Study Hydrogen in Cooper Basin

Australian Santos has started a concept study on a hydrogen future for the Cooper Basin.  The concept study has been awarded to services company GHD, it said July 14 in a statement.

Santos Managing CEO Kevin Gallagher said that natural gas can be de-carbonised at its source to make ‘zero-emissions’ or ‘blue hydrogen’.  The carbon dioxide produced as a result can then be safely and permanently captured and stored in the same reservoirs that the gas came from.

"The Cooper Basin hydrogen concept study builds on our progress towards the 1.7mn metric tons Cooper Basin carbon capture and storage (CCS) project for which Santos is targeting a final investment decision later this year, subject to a CCS methodology being approved for the Emissions Reduction Fund," Gallagher said.

Santos' proposed Moomba CCS project in South Australia would capture the 1.7mn mt of carbon dioxide currently separated from natural gas each year at the Moomba gas plant and reinject it into the same geological formations that have safely and permanently held oil and gas in place for tens of millions of years.

"With the Cooper Basin's reinjection capacity assessed at up to 20mn mt of carbon dioxide per year for 50 years, it has the potential to de-carbonise energy at its source," Gallagher said.

Santos and GHD aim to complete the concept study by the end of 2020.