Australia ups decarbonization ante: First offshore CCS undertaking gets major project status

July 4, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

As the global energy transition journey continues to make inroads, a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the G-7-AP greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment block off the northwestern coast of the Northern Territory of Australia has secured the Australian government’s backing with the award of a major project status.

Ichthys Explorer LNG offshore central processing facility; Source: Inpex

Acknowledging the Bonaparte CCS project’s potential to create thousands of jobs, inject billions into the local economy, and support the path to net zero, the Australian government awarded a major project status to this decarbonization endeavor.

The news was welcomed by the Bonaparte CCS assessment joint venture, comprising Inpex Browse E&P (53%, operator), TotalEnergies CCS Australia (26%), and Woodside Energy (21%), with Tetsu Murayama, Inpex’s Managing Director and Country Chair Australia, pointing out that it highlights the CCS project’s recognized potential to support a lower carbon future.

Murayama added: “Being awarded major project status is pleasing acknowledgement by the Australian government of the Bonaparte CCS project’s strategic importance in supporting the nation’s net zero goals. Significantly, this is the first offshore CCS project to receive major project status in Australia.

“Appraisal works in 2024 confirmed a high-quality saline aquifer reservoir with thick sealing formations which appear suitable for safe and permanent carbon storage in the Bonaparte Basin, approximately 250 kilometres offshore Darwin.”

While the preliminary front-end engineering design work began in April 2025, the first CO2 injection is planned around 2030, with the Ichthys joint venture expected to be the anchor customer. A detailed analysis of the reservoir appraisal data is being conducted to support a declaration of identified GHG storage formation application in advance of obtaining a GHG injection license.

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“It is proving to be one of the most promising carbon dioxide (CO2) storage sites globally, with an anticipated capacity of more than 10 million tonnes per annum. This means the Bonaparte CCS project could substantially contribute to decarbonising northern Australia and potentially the wider Indo-Pacific region,” emphasized Murayama.

The Bonaparte CCS project, located offshore northwest of Darwin, is anticipated to support emissions reductions in hard-to-abate sectors such as metal and chemical refining, potentially enabling the development of low-carbon industries in the region, creating 370 construction jobs and 40 ongoing positions.

Government’s move sparks ‘greenwashing dismay’

While some support the Australian government’s decision, others, like the Environment Centre Northern Territory (NT), see it as a “geenwashing dismay,” accusing the Albanese government of “spinning one of the world’s largest carbon dumping projects as a ‘low carbon’ project while opening the floodgates to massive gas expansion across the Northern Territory.”

After the government designated the Bonaparte CCS project as a major project and claimed it would “enable the development of low-carbon industries in the region,” the Environment Centre NT described the joint venture running the CCS undertaking as being made up of some of Australia’s biggest polluters and fossil fuel companies that could subject Northern Territory residents to the world’s largest carbon dumping project.

Bree Ahrens, Environment Centre NT’s Senior Climate Campaigner, remarked: “The Australian government has no business helping the fossil fuel industry greenwash its dangerous gas expansion in the Territory under the guise of clean energy. Climate change will make the Northern Territory unliveable within decades, yet the government is sacrificing our future for the gas industry – from Santos’ Barossa pipeline, to fracking in the Beetaloo Basin, to Inpex’s planned expansion, to the Middle Arm gas and petrochemical hub.

“The Top End is being turned into a sacrifice zone so the gas industry can line its pockets while our health, communities and environment are destroyed. We’re calling on the Albanese government to listen to voters and stop the gas industry from turning the Territory into the world’s carbon dumping ground.”

While expressing its concerns over the fast-tracking of this CCS project, the group claims that the endeavor will enable a massive expansion of the gas production in the Northern Territory, by “greenwashing the planned expansion of Inpex Ichthys LNG, the Middle Arm gas and petrochemical hub, fracking in the Beetaloo Basin, and Santos’ toxic Barossa project.”

As a carbon import terminal is also planned for the $1.5 billion federally funded Middle Arm industrial precinct in Darwin Harbour, the Environment Centre NT underlines that this will pave the way for carbon pollution to be imported via ships from Korea and Japan by 2030.

“Carbon capture and storage remains an unproven technology at scale, and marketing it as ‘renewable energy’ is misleading and offensive to Australians who are worried about climate change. There’s nothing renewable about carbon capture and storage – it’s a fossil fuel industry’s excuse to keep extracting coal and gas while pretending to care about climate change,” concluded Ahrens.