THE federal government has finally progressed legislation in Parliament to provide a further framework to allow carbon capture and storage offshore in Australian commonwealth waters.

The Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Amendment (Using New Technologies to Fight Climate Change) bill was read for a second time last night.

The bill will allow permits for Woodside Energy and Santos to progress their respective offshore CCS projects in the North of Australia.

Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill has previously stated that a lack of regulatory and policy settings has delayed CCS projects including the potential of the depleted Angel field on the North West Shelf.

In September last year, Woodside announced it was leading a venture consisting of Japan Australia LNG, Mitsubishi Corp, Mitsui, Shell and Chevron in the northern portion of the Carnarvon Basin within exploration permit G-10-AP.

It will look to inject CO2 from its other operations, and potentially third-party emissions, into the now depleted Angel gas field. This would take emissions from the Karratha Gas Plant and Pluto LNG facility.

According to Geoscience Australia the Angel field could store around 5Mtpa of CO2

However, in recent months, Woodside's CEO Meg O'Neill has said a lack of government support or "carrots" and financial incentives has failed to fast track this project.

The bill before Parliament aims to provide further business certainty for project's like the Angel field.

It will amend the existing sea dumping act to implement the 2009 and 2013 amendments to the London protocol.

Last night, during the second reading and debate of the bill, federal resources minister Madeleine King said reaching net-zero would be "virtually impossible without carbon capture and storage".

"Despite what many may think and have said, CCUS is in fact a proven technology," King told parliament.

"To put Australian CCUS projects in a competitive position and to back in our research efforts and unlock more private sector capital, it is imperative that we invest in our regulatory frameworks to ensure that they are fit for purpose."

King said the legislation would ensure a "commercial pathway" for transboundary CCS projects.

She was referring to Santos' Bayu-Undan gas field which is reaching end of life.

In the offshore Bonaparte Basin, Santos is leading the charge for its rapidly depleting Bayu-Undan gas fields in the Timor Sea to store CO2 from its Barossa gas development along with third-party CO2.

The field lies across Australian commonweal waters as well as Timor Leste waters.

Front-end engineering design work to convert it into a carbon sequestration project is almost complete.

The project is considered an "advanced development" by Geoscience Australia and is expected to begin injecting carbon from 2027.

"Revenue from the Bayu-Undan gas field, located in the Timor Sea about 500 kilometres north of Darwin, has been a major contributor to the economy of Timor-Leste over 16 years, but the Bayu-Undan reservoir is now depleted of that resource," minister King said.

"As a reservoir that safely held gas for millennia, it is eminently suitable to return to that role and hold gas, this time CO2, for further millennia.

"This government will always be a strong supporter of Timor-Leste's economic independence and resilience. It is therefore essential that our regulatory settings enable consideration of a commercial pathway for CCUS in the Bayu-Undan field."

Bill facing backlash from cross bench

While the Labor government has support from the opposition for the legislation, its passage will require the support of the Greens in the Senate where the minor party holds 12 seats.

The Greens are often aligned with ‘teal' independents on issues of environmental importance.

In the lower house, where the bill was being debated last night, these ‘teal' MPs provided a glimpse of what could come in the Senate.

Independent MPs Zoe Daniel, Sophie Scamps, Monique Ryan, and Kylea Tink all rose to object to the passage of the bill.

"This bill is a key enabler of the gas industry's plans to significantly expand Australia's engagement with carbon capture and storage in Australia and its import and export of CO2 across international borders," Monique Ryan said.

"CCS and the global trade of CO2 streams are crucial to the gas industry's global strategy to gain social licence by appearing to act on climate whilst simultaneously opening up new fossil fuel projects against the explicit advice of bodies such as the International Energy Agency and the IPCC.

"This bill aims to facilitate the greenwashing of fossil fuel expansion plans in Australia."

Zoe Daniels pointed to Chevron's Gorgon CCS project in WA saying that while it had successfully inject 8 million tonnes of CO2, it came online late and over cost.

"It is universally recognised as a monumental failure," Daniels said.

"By mid-2020, Chevron had spent a staggering $3 billion on that CCS technology, making it one of the costliest CCS facilities in the world, and it didn't even work."

Source: ENB Energy News Bulletin