Carbon Loop #006
More Moomba Magic; Kiwi-Capture; Europeans Lead the Way
Hello and welcome to the The Carbon Loop - a newsletter by the CCUSNA dedicated to highlighting the Australian carbon capture, utilisation and storage industry.
Everyone knows that Australia doesn’t come back to work properly until late January, so it has been a bit of a slow news month.
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Moomba Goes Zoom-ba ..
Another good news story out of Moomba.
Last month saw the official launch of the Moomba CCS facility in South Australia, marking a major step forward in Australia’s carbon reduction efforts. A Santos and Beach Energy joint venture, the project began CO₂ injection in October 2024 and has already exceeded expectations.
By year’s end, it had safely stored 340,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, with a projected annual capacity of 1.7 million tonnes—the equivalent of removing 700,000 petrol cars from the roads every year.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas called it a “historic day for our state”, positioning South Australia as a leader in decarbonization. Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher sees the facility as a stepping stone to making Australia a CO₂ storage hub for the Asia-Pacific, with a potential $600 billion industry on the horizon. Beach Energy CEO Brett Woods highlighted Moomba as proof that CCS is a viable tool in achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
The facility stores CO₂ in depleted underground reservoirs in the Cooper Basin, providing a secure, large-scale solution for emissions reduction. As CCS momentum builds, Moomba is proving that Australia can lead the way in industrial decarbonization.
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Call for Submissions: 2025 CCS Technology Compendium
The Global CCS Institute is inviting organizations to showcase their technologies in the upcoming 2025 CCS Technology Compendium. This flagship publication will highlight commercially available and advanced-stage CCS solutions, offering insights into the latest developments in the field.
With CCS projects expanding globally, demand for new technologies is increasing across the value chain. If your organization has a CCS technology worth featuring, now is the time to get involved. Expressions of Interest are open, and detailed submission guidelines can be found in the 2025 Submission Brief.
🔗 CCS Technology Compendium 2025 — Submissions Now Open
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New Zealand joins the CCUS game .. Will claim it was invented there ..
The New Zealand Government has taken key steps toward establishing a national CCUS framework.
The plan includes integrating CCUS into the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme, aligning with international carbon reduction strategies and fostering investment in decarbonisation. The framework will require detailed assessments of storage sites and ongoing monitoring to ensure safe, long-term CO₂ storage.
“Under our CCUS framework, businesses that capture and store CO2 will be rewarded through the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), our Government's key tool to reducing net emissions. This will help reduce emissions obligations for New Zealand businesses as we progress towards a low-emissions economy,” Mr Watts says.
“By making these decisions, we are aligning New Zealand with other countries that are successfully utilising CCUS to drive economic growth and attract investment. Our framework not only supports innovation but also provides a pathway for businesses to remain competitive while reducing net emissions.
This move is part of New Zealand’s broader emissions reduction strategy, reinforcing CCS as a key tool in achieving national climate targets.
🔗 Carbon Capture One Step Closer
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Norwegian firm to assess Browse Basin ..
Norwegian energy data firm TGS and Australian CCS developer deepC Store are teaming up to assess carbon storage potential in the Browse Basin. Their focus is the G-14-AP permit, awarded to deepC Store and Azuli in August 2024.
The permit is part of the CStore1 project, which aims to create the first offshore floating CCS hub in the Asia-Pacific region, with an estimated CO₂ storage capacity of 1 gigatonne. Throughout 2025, the team will evaluate subsurface well locations and storage potential, using TGS’s extensive energy data and deepC Store’s CCS expertise.
🔗 TGS and DeepC Store Partner on Carbon Storage Assessment
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EU Seminar to Discuss Scaling Up Carbon Removals
The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change’s report, “Scaling up carbon dioxide removals – Recommendations for navigating opportunities and risks in the EU” has been released and - while I’m still working my way through it - it looks like it might have some thoughts and approaches in it.
Some snips —
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And if you don’t have time to read the 300+ page document, there’s a panel scheduled for March 10, 2025 (5:00PM Perth / 8:00PM AEDT) to work through some of its content. Billed as a ‘key opportunity to engage with Advisory Board members and experts, gain deeper insights into EU carbon removal strategies, and explore pathways for scaling up carbon dioxide removals’, despite its obvious EU-focus, if you don’t mind staying up a little late it might be worth your time.
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A quick ask for feedback: You may have already noticed but my dirty little secret is that I’m increasingly using ChatGPT to help me prepare these blurbs.
Please reply to this email if you find it’s getting to be a little too much. I want these emails to feel personal and authentic, but there’s only so many ways you can say ‘this link is about this’ and ‘this link is about that’ and AI has been quite useful in that regard. But if it’s starting to feel like fast food I will ease off a little bit.
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