The results of the world’s largest carbon capture project leave much to be desired

During the last fiscal year, Gorgon’s CCS project captured only 30% of the CO₂ it extracted from its reservoir, its weakest performance to date.

The Gorgon carbon capture and storage (CCS) project is the world’s largest, located at Chevron’s Gorgon LNG facility on Barrow Island, off the coast of Western Australia. The project removes carbon dioxide (CO₂) that mixes with natural gas extracted from the field and then captures and stores it underground. The project was approved on the condition that it would capture 80% of the CO₂ it extracted from its deposit on a five-year moving average starting in July 2016. However, it only started injecting CO₂ in August 2019, three years later than planned, and to date has captured 44% of the CO₂ removed between fiscal years 2019-20 and 2023-24. Of particular concern is the fact that Gorgon’s performance has declined over time, with a marked drop in the percentage of CO₂ captured over the past three years. In fiscal year 2021-22, it captured 33% of the CO₂ it eliminated, in fiscal year 2022-23 34%, and in fiscal year 2023-24 only 30%, its lowest performance to date. Since the start of its operation, the project has not achieved its goal of capturing 80% of the CO₂ it removes in a single year. On the other hand, in the last five years, it had a performance 45% below that goal, and in the last three years, 60%.

Continue reading news in El Periódico de la Energía