NSW CO2 storage assessment program
The challenge:
To quantify the CO2 storage potential in regional NSW. This work will help pave the way for emissions reductions while supporting industries and jobs in NSW. A carbon storage solution would also support new and emerging industries such as clean hydrogen production and direct air capture.
The action:
Coal Innovation NSW (CINSW) is coordinating the NSW CO2 Storage Assessment Project which aims to ‘make NSW CO2 storage ready’. To achieve this, CINSW is exploring regional NSW to identify safe and secure sites for potential geological storage of CO2.
The project:
Conventional Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) sites permanently store CO2 in geological formations deep underground. Compared to most other states in Australia, NSW's deep sedimentary basins are virtually unexplored.
To address this knowledge gap, CINSW, through the NSW CO2 Storage Assessment Project, is undertaking a statewide assessment to identify potential storage opportunities in NSW.
Stage 1 assessed two potential sites in NSW
The Carbon Storage Taskforce identified the Darling Basin and Sydney Basin as national priorities for assessment in 2009.
In Stage 1A, four stratigraphic wells were drilled in the Sydney Basin. Work was completed in 2012 and the wells showed limited CO2 storage potential, hence looking further west to the Darling Basin.
In Stage 1B, which commenced in 2014, two stratigraphic wells were drilled in the Darling Basin in western NSW, near Wilcannia. The Tiltagoonah-1 well is in the Nelyambo trough and the Mena Murtee-1 well is in the Pondie range trough.
Data from the Mena Murtee-1 well in the Pondie Range trough indicated a potential storage site. Analysis and modelling of this area identified multiple porous sandstone reservoirs with the potential to store 555 million tonnes of CO2. This is equivalent to all NSW industrial emissions (non-electricity) created over a forty-year period.
For further information, refer to the full CO2CRC Collaborative Research Report and the Final Report on Stage 1B – Darling Basin Drilling Program on the DIGS (Digital Imaging of Geological Survey Reports) website.
Stage 2 builds on previous assessment
The aim of Stage 2 of the NSW CO2 Storage Assessment Program is to build on the results from Stage 1B to strengthen understanding and expand current storage estimates of the Darling Basin.
Stage 2 concentrates on ‘proving up’ the Pondie Range Trough and neighbouring Poopelloe Lake Trough as suitable storage sites. Assessment is also focused in another promising sub-basin, the Yathong Trough, to expand our understanding of the storage prospectivity of the Darling Basin. This trough may also serve as an alternative storage option should further assessment of the Pondie Range Trough result in a downgrade in its prospectivity.
A comprehensive seismic survey and drilling program has been developed to address key knowledge gaps in the geological structure, stratigraphy, reservoir and seal properties, and hydrogeology of the three targeted sub-basins. This will allow a robust assessment of storage viability to be undertaken.