Climate Disaster

Barossa is a climate disaster waiting to happen

The Barossa gas field would be the dirtiest this country has seen, with at least double the carbon dioxide – at 18% – of any other offshore Australian gas field.

The project would release 15.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year as the gas is extracted, developed and burned. Santos’ own documents reveal that two thirds of the CO2 from the Barossa offshore gas field will be vented directly into the atmosphere before the gas is piped into Darwin.

The main component of gas is methane, which is 100 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term and emitted in vast quantities across the entire gas supply chain.

At a time when the International Energy Agency says we cannot develop any new gas if we are to avoid climate catastrophe, Santos’ plans for one of the most polluting gas projects in the world are reckless and must be stopped.

The emissions from Barossa will be greater than the gas produced

Carbon Capture and Storage claims are far-fetched

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the process of capturing, transporting and storing greenhouse gas emissions in the ground.

Santos is leading the public down the garden path with vague plans for CCS in the waters of Timor-Leste, which a local think tank has described as ‘carbon colonialism’(1).

Most of the Barossa project’s CO2 emissions will be from burning the gas it produces, which would be very difficult and expensive to capture.

CCS has a track record of failure around the world – the most egregious example being that of Chevron’s Gorgon project in WA(2). In their approvals documents, Chevron said that it would capture 80% of carbon emissions. In reality, it only captured 30% of what they said they would. On top of this, the project produced 16 million tonnes more emissions than the company had initially claimed it would.

1. https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/asia/387738/east-timor-ngo-hits-out-at-santos-carbon-storage-plans-for-barossa-lng/

2. https://reneweconomy.com.au/chevron-concedes-ccs-failures-at-gorgon-seeks-deal-with-wa-regulators/