Expro has been involved with one of the world’s largest LNG projects and single resource projects in Australia since its inception. The project permanently stores more CO2 than any other single operation globally. This landmark project demonstrates that carbon capture and storage (CCS) can be delivered at scale, which is needed to achieve the gigatons volumes of CO2 that need to be sequestered to meet net zero by 2050 pledges.

Both systems have been operational since 2021 and to date over 40,000 man-hours have been spent on this project with no HSE events or non-productive time. Our flexible and adaptable approach enabled the customer to reinject produced fluids at higher rates, which in turn, increased the rate of CO2 injection into the target reservoir. As a result, the overall CCS system was greatly improved.

Like all pioneering projects, challenges were encountered. Associated CO2 is produced with the natural gas and separated at an onshore plant then transported by pipelines to several drill centers. The CO2 is injected into a deep saline aquifer that is geologically constrained. As a result, a pressure management system consisting of water producers from the injection zone and water injectors into a separate above zone aquifer are required to allow the CO2 to be safely and securely stored. The challenge was the unexpected production of solids, which when reinjected into the above zone formation, inhibited the permeability of the reservoir and impacted the performance of the carbon storage system.