East Timor NGO hits out at Santos’ carbon storage plans for Barossa LNG

East Timor-based unbiased think-tank La’o Hamutuk has hit out at Santos’ plans to retailer carbon from its proposed Barossa liquefied pure gasoline (LNG) improvement on the Bayu Undan area within the Timor Sea by submitting a submission to the Northern Territory (NT) Environmental Safety Authority (NTEPA).

The authority is in search of suggestions concerning Santos’ proposal to assemble and function the Darwin Pipeline Duplication (DPD) Venture, to permit gasoline from the Barossa gasoline area within the Timor Sea, to be transported to the Darwin LNG export facility. The gasoline pipeline can be about 100km in NT waters, duplicate a piece of the present Bayu-Undan pipeline, and embody a shore crossing at Wickham Level within the Higher Darwin Space.

“The NTEPA mustn’t have a look at the a part of this undertaking that falls inside the Northern Territory in isolation, because it impacts your neighbours and the worldwide local weather,” La’o Hamutuk mentioned in its submission right this moment.

“Fuel extraction from Barossa and carbon storage at Bayu-Undan could also be outdoors your territorial jurisdiction, however they’re intrinsic components of the proposed DPD undertaking. Please think about results outdoors the Northern Territory, a few of which might endure for hundreds of years, whilst you look into the native impacts of this undertaking,” added the non-governmental organisation (NGO).

The Bayu-Undan area lies in East Timor’s territorial waters. East Timor is also called Timor Leste. The Barossa area lies in Australian territorial waters offshore Northern Australia.

Quick-moving plans for the Santos-led carbon seize and storage (CCS) undertaking on the Bayu Undan area offshore East Timor, that may see the nation import Australia’s waste, have beforehand been described as “carbon colonialism” by La’o Hamutuk.

Final 12 months, the Timorese NGO, warned that Santos (ASX:STO), Eni (BIT:ENI), in addition to Australia, had been hoping to use an impoverished neighbour, by implementing the proposed CCS scheme, focused to start-up in 2025. If profitable, it could be one of many largest carbon storage websites globally.

In its submission to the NTEPA right this moment, La’o Hamutuk mentioned that “a piecemeal strategy to a undertaking which straddles a number of jurisdictions might not adequately defend our widespread welfare. Overarching points may fall outdoors of every authority’s localised mandate and be neglected – there may be extra to this undertaking than the pipelines at the moment earlier than you.”

“Moreover, if some regulators are much less skilled or are overly influenced by company stress, others, together with yourselves, have to step up and train their tasks successfully,” added the think-tank.

The folks of East Timor are woefully ill-equipped to evaluate the implications of agreeing to the proposed CCS undertaking. “The Timorese folks – together with key resolution makers – have restricted technical, environmental, and numerical expertise and expertise,” La’o Hamutuk famous final 12 months.

The Timorese authorities has develop into hooked on simple rents from the petroleum trade and the nation’s regulator ANPM has been fast to begin collaborating with Santos. Final September, the pair signed a memorandum of understanding protecting the Bayu Undan CCS undertaking.

Nonetheless, in its submission right this moment La’o Hamutuk mentioned that individuals in ANPM and elsewhere in East Timor perceive that the MOU is simply the start of a dialog, not a call to go forward with the undertaking. In actual fact, the MOU itself states that the Bayu-Undan three way partnership and ANPM “comply with cooperate in good religion to evaluate the feasibility of pursuing this chance,” and the issues listed within the MOU contain “assessing” varied gadgets and “establishing a transparent and cheap timeline for choices on whether or not to pursue this CCS undertaking.”

La’o Hamutuk instructed the NTEPA that “Santos floated the concept of Carbon Seize and Storage (CCS) at Bayu-Undan to allow them to develop the carbon-intensive Barossa gasoline area, a greenwashing technique to confuse the general public concerning the injury they’ll inflict on the worldwide local weather. CCS is just not a confirmed know-how.”

Is Santos and Eni’s CCS plan within the Timor Sea ‘carbon colonialism’?

Santos’ assertion that “CCS is recognised as a protected, properly established resolution for everlasting, large-scale emissions discount and clear power manufacturing, being the keys to economy-wide decarbonisation” could also be true for oil firms reminiscent of themselves who’ve a vested curiosity, however it’s removed from universally recognised, and practically all CCS initiatives have sequestered far much less carbon than their proponents promised, mentioned the NGO. La’o Hamutuk highlights Chevron’s current challenges with its big Gorgon CCS undertaking in Australia.

“Web zero is a deceptive idea. Even when the CCS undertaking at Bayu-Undan works as Santos hopes, it might not cut back the general carbon dioxide emissions from extracting and liquefying the pure gasoline from Barossa, which is among the dirtiest gasoline fields on this planet,” added the thinktank, citing a report from IEEFA.

“Moreover, inevitable leaks of methane from the wells, pipelines and LNG and regasification services, in addition to the CO2 launched by burning Barossa-sourced gasoline elsewhere on our planet, will considerably exacerbate the danger of significant penalties of world local weather change,” warned La’o Hamutuk.

In its submission, the think-tank concluded by saying “every particular person in Timor-Leste is chargeable for about 0.5 tons of CO2 emissions per 12 months. Every Australian is chargeable for 30 occasions that a lot, not counting the emissions the place every of our gas exports are burned. Why ought to Timor-Leste be saddled with the duty, and the dangers, of Barossa’s CO2 in order that Australian firms can extract and export extra fossil fuels from deposits in Australia?”