The Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority has opened two public consultation processes as INPEX pursues their carbon capture and storage (CCS) aspirations tied to the Ichthys LNG project. 

With the firm's Ichthys CCS Project and the Bonaparte CCS Project already both being assessed at the federal level by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the territory's environmental watchdog is now accepting public submissions until 10 February. 

The Ichthys CCS project includes plans to install a CO2 export pipeline on Middle Arm connecting the existing Ichthys LNG facility to an onshore inlet station for offshore transport and long-term storage under the separate Bonaparte CCS project. The referral also includes a tie-in at the Darwin LNG boundary and an option to direct CO2 to Darwin LNG "for sequestration under the Bayu Undan CCS Project managed by Santos."  

The referral sets out an indicative schedule subject to approvals includes site preparation and brownfields works from 2028, with CO2 pipeline pre-commissioning from 2030 and start-up/operation from 2030 and an operational life of about 30 years.  

The separate Bonaparte CCS referral describes an offshore storage project within the G-7-AP permit area in Commonwealth waters, west of Darwin, proposing phased development with capacity "up to 8 Mtpa" initially and later increasing to "approximately 10 Mtpa", with potential total sequestration of up to 300 Mt of CO2 over a 30-year design life.  

While the Commonwealth referrals cover the broader transport-and-injection concept including an offshore CO2 pipeline described as approximately 260km and up to six injection wells, the NT EPA consultation notice for Bonaparte focuses on the Territory component, including an onshore inlet station on Middle Arm and the CO2 pipeline and associated subsea services out to the boundary of NT coastal waters.  

The Northern Territory Government has described Bonaparte CCS as a joint venture between INPEX, Woodside Energy and TotalEnergies, and says the Australian Government granted the project Major Project Status in July 2025.

Source: Energy News Bulletin