Key Takeaways
- The Gorgon carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, the world’s largest industrial carbon dioxide injection project, is not working as promised and its results are getting worse.
- The project was supposed to capture up to 4m tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from an underwater gas field each year, but it has only injected 1.33m tonnes in the last financial year.
- Critics argue that CCS is not delivering despite billions of dollars in funding commitments, and that it is being used as a justification for fossil fuel expansion.
- The Australian government and opposition support CCS, but experts have doubts about its effectiveness and say it is not a climate solution.
- The technology has been overstated, and its potential has been exaggerated, with most CCS developments not securing financial support and operating systems not capturing as much CO2 as promised.
Introduction to the Gorgon CCS Project
The Gorgon carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, located on Barrow Island off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, is the world’s largest industrial carbon dioxide injection project of its kind. The $3bn project, backed by $60m in federal government funding, was supposed to start operating in 2016 and capture up to 4m tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from an underwater gas field each year. However, nearly 10 years on, the project is still not working as promised, and its results are getting worse. The project’s failure to deliver has raised questions about the viability of CCS as a climate solution.
Technical Problems and Delays
The Gorgon CCS project has been plagued by technical problems and delays. The project was repeatedly delayed due to technical issues, and it didn’t start operation until August 2019. After a reasonably successful first 10 months, the amount of CO2 being injected under the island has been shrinking year-on-year. Data released by Chevron last month revealed that only 1.33m tonnes was injected under Barrow Island last financial year, down from 1.59m tonnes in 2023-24, and 1.72m tonnes the year before. Chevron says the problem is not with the technology itself, but the need to carefully manage the pressure levels in the geological reservoir under the island.
Criticism and Doubts
Critics argue that the Gorgon CCS project’s failure is further evidence that CCS is not delivering, despite billions of dollars in funding commitments over decades. Kevin Morrison, an analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, says that the development is now only half as effective as it was five years ago and is getting "worse by the year". Morrison also notes that even if the problems can be fixed, the Gorgon CCS development will bury less than 3% of the total emissions that result from the development if those released after the LNG is shipped and burned overseas are included. This has led to doubts about the effectiveness of CCS as a climate solution, with some experts arguing that it is being used as a justification for fossil fuel expansion.
Global CCS Developments
The Gorgon CCS project is not an isolated case, and there are concerns about the effectiveness of CCS globally. According to a recent report by the Global CCS Institute, there are 77 CCS projects in operation, but about half are for "enhanced oil recovery", which means the greenhouse gas is pumped underground to help extract more oil, a process that further adds to the climate crisis. A separate report by academics at Imperial College London found that 383m tonnes of CO2 have been stored underground since 1996, which is equivalent to just 10 days of global pollution. Annual storage now is still only about 45m tonnes – 0.1% of global climate pollution.
Political Support and Lobbying
Despite the limited results, CCS has the support of the Australian government and opposition. The resources minister, Madeleine King, has said that CCS is "part of the solution" and "reaching net zero will be virtually impossible without it". However, experts argue that the political support for CCS can at least partly be explained by the enduring lobbying power of the oil and gas industry. Morrison says that the industry is able to get into the ear of government, and that renewable energy is now more than ever cheaper than fossil fuels – and certainly cheaper than fossil fuels with CCS.
Conclusion
The Gorgon CCS project’s failure to deliver has raised questions about the viability of CCS as a climate solution. Despite billions of dollars in funding commitments, CCS has not delivered, and its potential has been overstated. Experts argue that CCS is not a climate solution and that it is being used as a justification for fossil fuel expansion. The Australian government and opposition must confront the reality of CCS’s limited effectiveness and prioritize renewable energy as a more effective and cheaper solution to reducing emissions.