SK Earthon wins Australian carbon storage exploration rights

SK Earthon Co., the energy resources exploration and production (E&P) unit of South Korea’s top energy company SK Innovation Co., will speed up its carbon capture and storage (CCS) business on an offshore basin on the northwest shelf of Australia.

SK Earthon said on Thursday that it has achieved a license for joint exploration of potential carbon dioxide storage site G-15-AP Block of the Carnarvon Basin, offshore Western Australia.

The Korean company holds a 20% stake in the project and partners with Australian asset manager Longreach Capital Investment’s CCS unit Incapture, which owns a 75% stake and CarbonCQ, a Perth-based CCS consultancy and developer with a 5% stake.

SK Earthon will evaluate the storage capacity and business feasibility for six years to decide whether to develop the carbon dioxide storage site. The company aims to obtain development and injection rights from the Australian government and start carbon dioxide injection by 2030 if the project proves viability.

“With this CO₂ storage exploration right, we aim to create synergy between our resource development and CCS efforts for sustainable growth. Working with SK E&S, we are proactively securing overseas storage sites, leveraging our 40 years of resource development experience to drive successful CCS initiatives,” said SK Earthon Chief Executive Myeong Seong.

The G-15-AP block is the first block for capture and storage of carbon emissions from Australian industrial operations, SK Earthon said, adding that the project will meet the local demand in Australia as well as creative collaboration opportunities with Korean CCS companies and sustainable growth solutions for the two countries.

SK Earthon is involved with 10 CCS projects, including Korea-Malaysia Shepherd CCS to explore Block SK427, off the coast of Sarawak in Northwestern Malaysia, and a Korean state-backed project to subsea carbon dioxide storage monitoring project.

The company aims to secure more than 2 million tons of carbon dioxide storage by 2030, scaling it up to more than 5 million tons by 2040 and 16 million tons by 2050.

SK Earthon will partner with SK E&S Co., the clean energy affiliate which is conducting a CCS project in Bayu-Undan field in the Timor Sea. 

The combined capabilities of resources development and CCS technologies of the two companies will enhance the probability of establishing a global CCS hub offshore Australia, SK Earthon said.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.