The blocks, including two in the Carnarvon Basin off the north-western coast of Western Australia and one in the Bonaparte Basin offshore Northern Territory, total more than 31,500 sq km or nearly 7.8m acres – an area larger than Belgium.
Mark Hatfield, Managing Director of Chevron’s Australia Business Unit, said, ”We look forward to working with our venture participants to assess the greenhouse gas storage potential within these titles, which we hope will benefit Australia and the region for years to come.”
Chris Powers, Vice President of Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) for Chevron New Energies, said, “Under almost every scenario, CCUS is expected to be essential for meeting the net zero ambitions of the Paris Agreement and is poised to play a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions in hard-to-abate, energy intensive industries such as LNG, refining, petrochemicals, power, steel, and cement.
”These and other ventures also have the potential to help generate higher returns and lower the carbon intensity of our own operations.”
It’s another sign of Chevron starting to accelerate in the carbon capture sector, after launching a CCS project aimed at reducing the carbon intensity of its operations in San Joaquin Valley, California, in May.
Brightmark RNG Holdings – a joint venture partnership between Chevron U.S.A. and Brightmark Fund Holdings, a subsidiary of Brightmark, the global waste solutions provider – recently delivered first gas at its Athena Project in Minnehaha County, South Dakota.
The project comprises three farms in Minnehaha County: Boadwine Farms, Pioneer Dairy, and Mooody Dairy. The project is part of the previously announced partnership to own project companies across the United States to produce and market dairy biomethane, a renewable natural gas (RNG).
Methane generated by the manure from the Athena Project is expected to be captured, cleaned, and converted into RNG, which can be used for transportation, cooking, or electricity. The gas is anticipated to be injected into the local interstate pipeline system statewide.
Chevron completed its previously announced acquisition of Renewable Energy Group in June, and Chevron U.S.A. announced definitive agreements to supply fuel linked to RNG for a Walmart demonstration of Cummins’ new 15-litre natural gas engine for heavy-duty trucks.
As part of the agreements, Walmart will provide heavy-duty trucks for Cummins to integrate with the X15N™ engine, which runs on compressed natural gas (CNG).
Chevron is also actively exploring additional opportunities to lower the carbon intensity of its SJV operations, including the blending of hydrogen with natural gas in combustion, and the potential use of other emerging lower carbon technologies, such as geothermal.