The Environment Centre NT (ECNT) is concerned about the recent announcement by the Gunner Government to develop a business case for a Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) hub in Darwin Harbour. The partnership includes the CSIRO and gas companies INPEX, Eni, Xodus, Santos, and Woodside.
“CCS facilities have a dismal track record, consistently proving to be unviable, unsafe and failing to achieve emissions capture targets anywhere in the world. The Australian taxpayer has wasted almost $4billion of public money on CCS since 2003—with almost nothing to show for it,” says Jason Fowler, energy campaigner at the ECNT.
“Australia’s only commercial-scale CCS facility at the Gorgon gas field in WA is now regarded as a total failure. Three of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell, have spent 12 years and $3billion trying to develop CCS, only to have it fail to reach its 5-year commitment by almost 70%. Chevron may now have to buy hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Australian Carbon Credit Units to fulfil its promise to the regulators.”
“The NT Government is being led down the garden path by minor oil and gas companies in an effort to justify developing new gas fields in the Territory. With the recent release of the Government’s draft emissions offsets policy, it is important that CCS is not seen as viable indirect offset for new gas developments, as it is an unproven technology and has no track record of success.”
“The Territory has some of the best solar resources in the world and this should be the focus of any new business case for Darwin Harbour. We should be investing in real renewable solutions rather than a dishonest smokescreen for more fossil fuels,” says Jason Fowler.
Contact for comment: Jason Fowler, 0487 806 385