Glencore seeks Australian carbon capture approval amid farmer protests
13/05/2024 07:10
By Peter Hobson
CANBERRA, May 13 (Reuters) - Australia's Queensland
state will decide this month whether to give Glencore GLEN.L a
key approval to bury liquefied carbon dioxide in the country's
largest aquifer, a plan farm groups say must be blocked because
it risks poisoning water supplies.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is needed to achieve the
world's net-zero goals and contain global warming, governments
say. Its rollout has been slow but is gathering pace.
Swiss commodities giant Glencore plans a three-year, A$210
million ($135 million) pilot project that would pump 330,000
metric tons of CO2 from a coal-fired power plant in the
northeastern state into an aquifer 2.3 km (1.4 miles)
underground.
"This is an important test case for onshore CCS in
Australia," said Glencore spokesperson Francis De Rosa.
Glencore says there is no demand for the low-quality,
expensive-to-reach water in its pumping site and the CO2 is
extremely unlikely to spread significantly from where it is put.
"Our project is based on very robust data, fieldwork and
analysis," De Rosa said, adding that several government agencies
had reviewed the plan.
But farm groups say it risks poisoning part of the Great
Artesian Basin, a network of groundwater deposits spanning much
of eastern Australia that supports agriculture and communities.
They say the acidic CO2 in the rock could release and spread
toxic substances like lead and arsenic.
The project is "unthinkable," said Michael Guerin, whose
AgForce farm association launched a court case in March to force
the federal government to review Glencore's plans.
Speaking at a beef industry conference this month,
Queensland's premier Steven Miles said the project "doesn't
sound like a good idea to me" and was unlikely to satisfy the
state's environmental rules - prompting a complaint by Glencore
that he was interfering in the regulatory process.
"Our project should be judged on the science, not
misinformation or political opportunism," the company said.
Miles's office declined to comment further. The federal
environment ministry declined to comment.
Queensland's environment department said the state's
independent environmental regulator had considered the potential
impacts to groundwater and the Great Artesian Basin and was
preparing its final assessment report.
CONSEQUENCES
The Queensland government will decide by the end of May
whether to approve Glencore's environmental impact assessment.
If approved, further permissions would be needed but the main
hurdle would be cleared.
Glencore's plan would capture 2% of the emissions of the
Millmerran power plant but could eventually store 90%, the
company said.
The site for the project was originally identified as
suitable for carbon storage by a government body.
Australia has only one active CCS project, the world's
largest, at Chevron's CVX.N Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG)
project, on an island off the northwest coast.
Two more are under construction, including the first onshore
operation from Santos STO.AX to inject CO2 into a depleted gas
field in South Australia state, and 14 are in development,
according to the Global CCS Institute. Most target offshore
storage and about half plan to store in depleted oil or gas
reservoirs.
The use of aquifers to store carbon is becoming more common,
said Alex Zapantis at the CCS Institute. The porous rock of many
aquifers can host huge amounts of liquefied CO2. But only those
where water is so deep and low quality that it is unsuitable for
other use would be chosen or approved by regulators, he said.
The project is being managed by a Glencore subsidiary,
Carbon Transport and Storage Corporation (CTSCo). Japan's
Marubeni Corp 8002.T and J-POWER 9513.T each committed A$10
million to it in 2022.
($1 = 1.5404 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Additional reporting by Melanie
Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Jamie Freed)
((peter.hobson@thomsonreuters.com;))