The passage of the Offshore Petroleum Amendment Bill by the Australian Senate last week established the world’s first regulatory framework for CO2 capture and geological storage (CCS).

The legislation establishes access and property rights in Australia’s offshore waters for geological storage of CO2, and is an important component of the Australian government’s commitment to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 60% on 2000 levels by 2050.

Coal provides around 80 per cent of Australia’s total electricity and accounts for 32 per cent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Clearly, no serious response to climate change can ignore the need to reduce emissions from coal. Along with the development of renewable energy sources and the improvement of energy efficiency, the capture and storage of CO2 from fossil energy is essential.

Australia has the capacity to inject and store a significant amount of its carbon emissions in offshore reservoirs and Geoscience Australia is assessing the viability of numerous sites which will allow the continued utilization of our extensive coal reserves, as well as the development of new industries such as coal-to-liquids which could improve Australia’s liquid transport fuel security.

The CCS Task Force is also undertaking a national mapping project to match key industrial hubs with prospective geological storage sites and infrastructure requirements for CO2. This work will be greatly assisted by the introduction of CCS legislation by the States and Territories.

—Martin Ferguson, Minister for Resources and Energy, Minister for Tourism
The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA), supported the passage of the bill, saying that it had fought hard to ensure that existing petroleum titleholders are given a high level of protection for existing property rights while allowing, and in the case of some operators, facilitating, greenhouse gas storage.