US energy giant Chevron and its partners Shell and ExxonMobil have been awarded the greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment permit G-20-AP, located offshore Western Australia’s Barrow Island, home of the giant Gorgon LNG terminal.
Chevron Australia New Ventures is the operator of the permit in the Northern Carnarvon Basin offshore Western Australia, along with partners Shell Australia and Mobil Australia Resources.
According to Chevron Australia, G-20-AP is adjacent to Barrow Island and covers an area of 2,222 km2 with water depths of 25-125m.
The JV will now start to assess the technical and commercial feasibility of the geological storage of carbon dioxide in the permit area.
“Carbon capture and storage is an important tool and this permit award demonstrates the potential to lower the carbon intensity of our operations as well as potentially third-party emissions,” Chevron Australia energy transition general manager David Fallon said
Before this permit, Chevron and Woodside secured the G-18-AP permit offshore from Onslow, Western Australia, where its Wheastsone LNG plant is located.
The permit area will be evaluated as part of a hub for storing third-party emissions, including those from Chevron’s operated LNG assets.
These permits add to the Chevron-operated Gorgon CCS project, one of the world’s largest integrated facilities.
Chevron operates both the Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG export plants.
Launched in 2016, the Gorgon LNG plant has three trains and a production capacity of about 15.6 mtpa.
The Wheatstone foundation project consists of two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 mtpa, and the first shipment left the facility in 2017.