Bonaparte CCS scheme moves into pre-FEED phase
An INPEX Browse E&P-led joint venture has started pre-FEED studies for the Bonaparte CCS (carbon capture and storage) project offshore Australia’s Northern Territory.
The other co-venturers are TotalEnergies CCS Australia and Woodside Energy. The proposed development location is about 260 km offshore Darwin. The venture was formed in 2022 to appraise greenhouse-gas (GHG) storage assessment acreage in Block G-7-AP.
According to INPEX, this is potentially one of the world’s largest CCS projects.
Entry into the pre-FEED phase followed selection of the engineering concept and an appraisal program that included a 3D survey over an 1,800-sq-km area and drilling of two CCS appraisal wells.
The program confirmed the presence of a good-quality saline aquifer reservoir in the Bonaparte Basin with sufficiently thick sealing formations for safe and permanent carbon storage.
INPEX added that the basin has a potential annual carbon storage capacity of more than 10 MMt.
The joint venture aims to start CO2 injection offshore around 2030 to support decarbonization of industries in northern Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
Currently, the reservoir appraisal data are undergoing analysis to support a declaration of identified GHG storage formation application, ahead of obtaining a GHG injection license.
The nearby offshore/onshore Ichthys joint venture project would likely be the prime customer of Bonaparte CCS.
In October 2024, Viridien and SLB concluded acquisition of a new 3D multiclient seismic survey in the Bonaparte Basin offshore Australia’s northwest coast. The ~6,760 sq km of PSDM data are undergoing processing, and final results were scheduled to be available in second-quarter 2025.
During the same time last year, INPEX Browse E&P and Chubu Electric Power announced they would jointly assess the feasibility of establishing a CCS value chain in the Asia-Pacific region. This will involve capture of CO2 in Japan followed by transportation from the Port of Nagoya to northern Australia for subsurface storage.
