Australian LNG player Santos said it has signed a memorandum of understanding to progress carbon capture and storage (CCS) at the Bayu-Undan field offshore Timor-Leste.
Santos and its partners in the Bayu-Undan joint venture launched a $235 million infill drilling campaign at the Bayu-Undan field in May following a final investment decision on the project in January this year. The project will boost natural gas supplies for the Santos-operated LNG export plant in Darwin, Australia.
According to a Santos statement on Tuesday, the Bayu-Undan JV had signed the memorandum with the Timor-Leste regulator Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo e Minerais (ANPM).
“The MOU details the areas the Bayu-Undan JV and the ANPM, with the support of the Timor-Leste government, will work on collaboratively to test the viability of repurposing the existing Bayu-Undan facilities and using the Bayu-Undan reservoir for CCS,” the statement said.
These include sharing technical, operational and commercial information, assessing the regulatory framework, evaluating local capacity opportunities but also establishing a decision timeline.
10 million tonnes per year of CO2
Santos chief executive officer Kevin Gallagher said the firm believes the Bayu-Undan reservoir and facilities have the potential to be “a world-leading CCS project.”
“CCS is recognised by the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as being a critical technology to achieve the world’s climate goals. Santos’ experience with the globally-competitive Moomba CCS project in outback South Australia will bring invaluable experience to the project,” he said.
Furthermore, he said that CCS at Bayu-Undan has potential capacity to safely and permanently store about 10 million tonnes per annum of CO2.
Santos has a 43.4% operated interest in Bayu-Undan. Other partners include SK E&S (25%), Inpex (11.4%), Eni (11%), as well as Tokyo Timor Sea Resources (9.2%).