Australia names offshore site for Inpex — led Bonaparte carbon storage project

SYDNEY, Oct 16 (Reuters) — Australia on Friday designated the West Peron undersea rock formation, off the country's north coast, as a storage site for the 8 million metric ton-per-year Bonaparte carbon capture and storage project proposed by Japan's Inpex. The Bonaparte project is initially expected to receive carbon dioxide from Inpex's Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project before eventually expanding storage services to multiple industrial facilities. Inpex proposes to permanently store up to 443 million tons of carbon dioxide deep underground in the West Peron formation over a period of up to 35 years. The formation is a layer of porous rock located deep beneath the seabed. Australia Resources Minister Madeleine King said the decision demonstrated the government's support for technologies aimed at reducing emissions from industries where cutting greenhouse gas emissions remains difficult. "Carbon capture and storage will play an important role in reducing emissions from hard-to-abate industries, supporting Australia's transition to net zero," King said. Australia has a legislated target to reach net zero emissions by 2050. (Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by She