In the 12 months to June 2022 Chevron injected underground just 1.6 million tonnes of reservoir CO2 and vented to the atmosphere 3.4 million tonnes,according toan annual Gorgon environmental report to the WA government released on Sunday.
The shortfall adds both to global warming and the difficulty of Australia reaching the 2030 emissions cuts legislated by the Albanese government.
Conservation Council of WA executive director Maggie Wood said CO2 injection at Gorgon had been an embarrassing failure for Chevron and proved that carbon capture and storage cannot be relied on to achieve meaningful emission reductions.
“The issue is there is no credible plan from Chevron to deliver this.”
Conservation Council of WA executive director Maggie Wood
In the six years since export of liquefied natural gas started from Gorgon 20.4 million tonnes of CO2 has been extracted from the natural gas piped from offshore to Barrow Island but only 6.5 million tonnes is now stored under the island.
The reservoir CO2 vented by Gorgon so far is more than Origin Energy’s giant Eraring coal-fired power station in NSW emits in a year.
In addition to vented reservoir,CO2 Gorgon emits five to six million tonnes a year of CO2 from burning gas to power its plant.