US energy major Chevron on Wednesday said that in addition to carbon capture and storage (CCS) at its Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, in Western Australia, the company is also investigating a host of other abatement solutions to reach its net zero by 2050 target.
Speaking at the AOG Energy expo, in Perth, Chevron Australia MD Mark Hatfield noted that along with its joint venture partners, Chevron had already implemented a range of technologies to reduce emissions.
“While we continue to work to optimize Gorgon CCS, we’re also exploring technical abatement solutions that can be developed and deployed at scale, in addition to using reliable offsets and verifiable offsets. While the lower carbon challenge is significant, and there is uncertainty on how to achieve the long-term emission reductions, we have the commitment and the skills needed to find those solutions.”
Hatfield noted that the newly formed Chevron New Energies had been specifically formed to lead the strategy globally for Chevron, with Australia and the Asia Pacific region a priority in CCS.
“We’ve had two recent key developments just last year. The first was that Chevron Australia was granted interest in three greenhouse-gas (GHG) permits offshore Western Australia as part of three different joint ventures. In addition, a new consortium was formed in Singapore, which will advance the development of CCS in that country.
“On top of all that, just last week Chevron New Energy signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Japanese company JERA that will bring us together to develop CCS projects in the US and Australia,” said Hatfield.
Chevron previously said that the MoU with JERA had the potential to expand the significant LNG relationship that Chevron and JERA have, and further demonstrated the commitment and dedication both companies had to advancing lower carbon solutions.
This MoU furthers the collaboration between the companies in the lower carbon space, following the November 2022 announcement of their collaboration on the potential co-development of lower carbon fuel in Australia and the study of liquid organic hydrogen carriers in the US.
“These exciting developments highlight that no single company or nation has all the solutions. When there’s genuine collaboration between businesses, between countries, great things can happen. In closing, we’re very proud to continue being a major supporter of this event,” Hatfield said on Wednesday.
Chevron in 2021 conceded that it had failed to capture sufficient GHG emissions at its Gorgon oil and gas project and was now working with the Western Australian regulator to make up the shortfall. The company at the time announced a A$40-million investment in lower carbon projects in Western Australia to address this shortfall.
Under the terms of the project’s approval, the Gorgon LNG operation is meant to capture four-million tonnes a year of carbon dioxide (CO2), or 80% of the carbon extracted from its reservoir gas, and reduce GHG emissions by more than 100-million tonnes over the life of the injection project.
Hatfield on Wednesday said that since 2019, the CCS project at Gorgon had captured 7.5-million tonnes of CO2.