Located at the Moomba Gas Plant in South Australia’s northeast, the Moomba Carbon Capture and Storage project is Australia’s first large-scale onshore hub for the capture and geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2).
The project is designed to store up to 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year, depending on availability of CO2, with a lifecycle cost of less than US$30 per tonne of CO2, it is one of the lowest-cost CCS projects globally.
The Moomba CCS project utilises depleted oil and gas reservoirs for CO2 storage. These reservoirs are ideal storage sites and have previously stored hydrocarbons for tens of millions of years.
In October 2024, Santos announced that the Moomba CCS project was operational and had commenced capturing, injecting and storing CO2 in the Cooper Basin, following a successful commissioning process and ramp-up.
Moomba CCS is now fully operational and is delivering real emissions reduction for South Australia and Australia.
How it works
The Moomba CCS process consists of four main stages:
- CO2 is captured at the Moomba Gas Plant and fed into the main CO2 processing facility where water is removed.
- CO2 is compressed into liquid.
- CO2 is transported 50km via pipeline to a storage site.
- CO2 is safely and permanently stored in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs.
The animation below illustrates the complete journey of CO2 from capture to injection, specific to the Moomba CCS project.
Monitoring and verification
A monitoring and verification plan, regulated by the South Australian Government, has been developed based on international standards and best practice and includes:
- Data gathering during injection.
- Monitoring movement of CO2 and confirming containment.
- Monitoring the integrity of the wells.
- Environmental assurance.
CCS is a growth industry because capturing CO2 emissions and transporting them to safe, permanent geological storage locations is critical if the world is to achieve its climate goals.
Learn more about CCS technology at Santos here.
