Santos, SK E&S ink MOU for carbon solutions collaboration
Australian energy company Santos has formalised a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Korean energy company SK E&S to collaborate on carbon solutions, it said on November 13.
The MOU outlines a partnership between Santos and SK E&S to explore and develop a low-carbon hub at Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory. This collaboration follows the award of a CO2 storage permit for G-11-AP, located within the Bonaparte basin off the coast of Western Australia in 2022.
The MOU encompasses joint efforts to secure additional CO2 storage capacity, including the Bayu-Undan field. A transboundary business model will also be developed to aggregate and transport CO2 from Korea to Australia for safe and secure underground storage.
"As demand for CO2 transport and storage continues to grow, Santos and SK E&S intend to collaborate under the terms of the MOU to work with relevant governments to urgently progress the necessary regulatory, fiscal, and carbon credit frameworks required to support international collaboration on CCS to decarbonise our region," Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said.
Gallagher noted that the agreement with SK E&S aligns with Santos' previous MOUs with four other parties regarding carbon capture and storage at the proposed Darwin and Bayu-Undan CCS hub.
"These MOUs complement a further MOU with Timor-Leste's national oil company, Timor GAP, to explore partnership opportunities for the proposed Bayu-Undan CCS," Gallagher added.
The G-11-AP permit is held by Santos (40% and operator), Chevron (30%), and SK E&S (30%). It covers an area of 26,239 km2 within the Bonaparte Basin.