Why Japan’s power plants want to bury their emissions in the outback

The potential role of CCS, however, remains a divisive issue globally. Supporters of the technology, including the oil and gas industry and the federal government, insist it must be a critical part of efforts to curb planet-warming emissions and arrest climate change, especially in polluting parts of the economy that cannot readily switch to cleaner processes, such as steel or cement manufacturing.

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The Greens and many environmental campaigners, on the other hand, view CCS with great scepticism, arguing that stashing emissions diverts focus from efforts to decarbonise in the first place, and fearing it could be used as a delaying tactic to prolong the consumption of harmful fossil fuels.

CCS technology remains in its infancy, with 50 projects in commercial use around the world, according to the Global CCS Institute.

Moomba is operated as a joint venture between Santos and another ASX-listed oil and gas producer, Beach Energy, whose biggest shareholder is billionaire Kerry Stokes’ Seven Group Holdings.

In an update to investors last week, Santos said Moomba had already stored 340,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent.

“At full injection rates Moomba CCS avoids more emissions every four days than 10,000 electric cars avoid in one year,” Gallagher said.

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