Pilot Energy plans regulatory submissions for Cliff Head CCS project

Pilot Energy and Triangle Energy, partners in the Mid West Clean Energy Project, are finalising the initial regulatory submissions required for stage one of the Cliff Head CCS project in Western Australia, Pilot said on November 15. They also continue to engage with potential project partners and customers for both CCS and ammonia offtake.

CO2Tech, the CO₂ storage and technical adviser, and the Cliff Head joint venture technical teams have finalised the reservoir and geo-mechanical modelling required to support the application to declare formations within the WA 31-L area as identified greenhouse gas formations.

Technical analysis was presented to Australian regulator National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA) in October, ahead of submitting the formal application to declare an ‘identified greenhouse gas Storage formation’ within the WA 31-L tenement. The Cliff Head JV expects to lodge the submission with NOPTA in the coming weeks.

The first stage of the Mid West Clean Energy Project involves the conversion of the Cliff Head oil field from oil production to a CCS project. The oil field lies in shallow waters offshore Western Australia and is operated by Triangle. 

The conversion of the current Cliff Head oil field production operation into a CCS operation will in turn occur over three basic stages – storage reservoir preparation, facilities conversion and CO₂ injection operations. Additionally, the initial CO₂ injection operations can also be expanded to both increase the injection rate up to 1mn mt/year and overall storage capacity to 16mn mt, Pilot said.

Pilot has engaged New Energy Technology to market ammonia volumes from the Mid West Clean Energy Project, with a particular focus on the rapidly growing markets in Asia.

Earlier this year, Pilot and Triangle signed a binding term sheet for the re-alignment of their interests in the WA-31-L Cliff Head joint venture.