Australian independent oil and gas producer Santos aims to move a proposed blue hydrogen project in Australia's Cooper basin to the Feed phase before the end of the year, it says in its first-quarter earnings report.

The decision to progress the project comes as the Moomba carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) facility, a key enabler of the hydrogen project, is now 14pc complete and on schedule for first CO₂ injections in 2024, Santos says.

“The Moomba CCS project is an important enabler for the production of hydrogen. Engineering, commercial and marketing studies are progressing on the Moomba hydrogen project with the goal of positioning the project as Australia’s lowest cost and one of the largest commercial hydrogen opportunities. A Feed-entry decision is targeted in 2022,” Santos says.

Moomba CCS, located in the South Australian outback, is expected to be one of the largest and least expensive CCS projects in the world, with the capacity to inject and permanently store 1.7mn t CO₂/yr in depleted oil and gas fields. Santos previously forecast a full lifecycle cost of less than $24/t CO₂, including cash operating costs of $6-8/t.

Santos and joint-venture partner Beach Energy took an FID on the $165mn project in November last year.

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Author: Stuart Penson