Tripartite partnership pursues GHG storage acreage offshore Australia

DeepC Store and Azuli International have agreed to jointly pursue and acquire greenhouse gas (GHG) storage acreages in Commonwealth waters offshore Australia said to have strong potential for significant CO2 storage capacities.

The two companies have jointly bid for GHG Assessment Permits released by the Australian Commonwealth Government as per the 2023 offshore GHG storage acreage release.

According to deepC Store Managing Director, Daein Cha, Australia has potential CO2 storage capacity of 434 billion tonnes, with 73% of the storage residing offshore, which is equivalent to about 870 years’ worth of its net emissions, and is well positioned to offer significant CO2 reduction contributions for its own hard-to-abate industrial sectors via CCS, as well as to play a central role in the decarbonization of the Asia Pacific region.

“In doing so this would maximise economic opportunities for Australian businesses and employment as well as forge increased international collaboration and cooperation and assist nations accelerate global progress towards meeting their Paris Agreement goals,” Cha said.

To further strengthen the partnership, the parties signed a letter of intent (LOI) with PGS Australia to enter into a service-for-equity agreement for the parties to issue shares to PGS in exchange for PGS providing geological and geophysical advisory services.

PGS will support the joint bid by providing its full suite of seismic interpretation and knowledge from geological and geophysical studies, which will be harnessed and integrated to build high-resolution injection site modeling and simulation services.

As a result of this contemplated transaction, PGS will become a major shareholder of deepC Store and Azuli.

Azuli Managing Director Hamish Wilson believes that Australia will play an important role in enabling Japan and Korea’s decarbonization plans imperative in achieving net zero by 2050, which will be enabled through shipping transboundary CO2 imports to a number of floating storage and injection (FSI) facilities in Commonwealth waters.  

“Azuli and deepC Store are focused on achieving a commercially sustainable cost basis for industrial-level CCS through strategic partnerships with critical supply chain partners PGS and others. We also look forward to progressing our joint venture building strong collaborative relationships with the Australian government. Our shared aim is to ultimately create a successful portfolio of CCS projects for safe and cost effective permanent geological sequestration of Australia’s domestic emissions and those of its Asian trading partners,” Wilson said.

To remind, in March 2022, PGS and deepC Store signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to co-develop a commercial-scale carbon storage project offshore Australia. A couple of months later the companies entered into a subscription agreement under which deepC Store issued shares to PGS in exchange for geological and geophysical advisory services.