Australia on Friday designated the West Peron undersea rock formation, off the country's north coast, as a storage site for the eight million tonnes-per-year Bonaparte carbon capture and storage project proposed by Japan's Inpex.
The Bonaparte project is initially expected to receive carbon dioxide from Inpex's Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project before eventually expanding storage services to multiple industrial facilities.
Inpex proposes to permanently store up to 443 million tonnes of carbon dioxide deep underground in the West Peron formation over a period of up to 35 years. The formation is a layer of porous rock located deep beneath the seabed.
Australia Resources Minister Madeleine King said the decision demonstrated the government's support for technologies aimed at reducing local emissions from industries.
"Carbon capture and storage will play an important role in reducing emissions from hard-to-abate industries, supporting Australia's transition to 'net zero'," King said.
Australia's leftist/globalist government has a legislated target to reach so-called net zero emissions by 2050.
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)