Esso Australia, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Australia, has unveiled its plans to capture and reuse carbon dioxide (CO2) generated from its operations in Gippsland basin, off Australia.
Under an agreement with Gippsland Basin joint venture (JV), Air Liquide has commenced the construction of a new facility that captures and reuse CO2 from Gippsland gas.
Gippsland Basin JV is a 50-50 partnership between BHP Petroleum and Esso Australia Resources, which is operated by Esso Australia.
Air Liquide is building the new processing facility to recycle CO2 from the Longford Gas Conditioning Plant, and will also modify the plant to support the process.
The French company will extract the CO2 from Gippsland gas, and purify it match the food and beverage quality for use by Esso Australia.
Air Liquide Australia managing director Tim Kehoe said: “Air Liquide looks forward to working with the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture to capture and process CO2 in 2023 when our state-of-the-art CO2 processing facility is commissioned.
“The facility will not only contribute to the sustainability of our operations, but will also offer additional support to our customers in the Food and Beverage, Medical, Water Treatment and Industrial markets.”
Under a long-term agreement announced last year, Esso Australia will capture and send excess CO2 from the Longford Gas Conditioning Plant to Air Liquide.
Air Liquide is responsible for processing and providing the in-demand gas in various forms across Australian businesses.
Esso Australia claimed that the project would create jobs in the country, and provide the energy for local manufacturers, medical facilities and other firms.
ExxonMobil has been active in the offshore Gippsland basin for nearly 60 years, delivering more than 4 million barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to Australia.
ExxonMobil Australia chair Dylan Pugh said: “Construction of the Air Liquide facility next to the Longford Gas Conditioning Plant will allow CO2 captured during the processing of Gippsland gas to be processed and purified to food and beverage grade quality.
“CO2 is a valuable and in-demand gas, typically used by the food, beverage, hospitality, manufacturing and medical industries for a variety of important functions that are essential to everyday life.
“Esso Australia is actively pursuing opportunities to provide CO2 from our operations to customers for beneficial use, supporting our own emissions reduction goals while maintaining our supply of essential energy to Australia.”
