Woodside Energy has submitted a carbon capture plan covering its proposed Browse joint venture project to federal regulators, with the hope of addressing emissions from the gas field.
Woodside Energy has submitted a carbon capture plan covering its proposed Browse joint venture project to federal regulators, with the hope of addressing emissions from the gas field.
The plan to tap Browse gas through the North West Shelf has been before regulators since 2018, but does not incorporate a carbon capture mechanism for emissions reductions.
In a 2022 submission to the federal government, Woodside said carbon capture was high risk and high cost but that the Browse joint venture expected the technology to improve with time and would continue to assess it.
In 2023, it sought to amend the Browse submission to include CCS in a move rejected by regulators – a move which highlighted a softening of its previous stance on the technology.
The submission of a separate carbon capture plan to regulators in October 2024, published early in January, is the latest bid to have Browse CCS considered.
In the submission, the company has proposed to capture a minimum of 85 per cent of Browse’s emissions in the Calliance storage formation, at a rate of 3-4 million tonnes per annum.
The submission said Browse was expected to emit around 80 million tonnes of reservoir carbon dioxide over its life, and that CCS would allow it to reduce emissions by around half.
The submission proposes a subsea carbon flowline of around 130km, connected to the two planned Browse floating offshore petroleum vessels.
A Woodside spokesperson said CCS was one of a number of options being explored to manage emissions at the proposed project.
“The Browse joint venture has determined that a CCS solution for the Browse to NWS Project is feasible,” they said.
“The CCS infrastructure has been incorporated into the offshore design to capture and sequester reservoir carbon dioxide emissions that would otherwise be vented.
“The Browse joint venture will continue to evaluate further carbon abatement and energy efficiency opportunities to reduce and manage greenhouse gas emissions.”
The move comes amid unconfirmed reports that Woodside is progressing on the front-end engineering and design of the FPSO vessels which would tap the Browse gas field.
It also follows an asset swap in December between Woodside and Chevron, which simplified the ownership structure of the North West Shelf JV.
At the time, Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill said the swap would improve the commercial prospects of Browse.
The Browse to North West Shelf development remains in the approvals process, and the CCS project is open for public comment.
The Browse project received a boost in December, when a 50-year extension to the life of the North West Shelf plant was approved by state Environment Minister Reece Whitby.
