The desert project showing what CCS can achieve

Moomba has created Australian history

IIn the remote Strzelecki Desert in Australia, the ability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) to drive impactful decarbonisation is being demonstrated at industrial scale.

Moomba CCS – co-located with the long-standing gas plant of the same name – isn't a project many people will have the opportunity to see up close. The nearest publicly accessible town, Innamincka, has a population of around 20 people and the facility is far closer to the famed outback town of Birdsville than it is to the South Australian capital of Adelaide.

However, Moomba was the scene of history in October 2024 when Australia’s first onshore CCS facility entered operation.

By July 2025 it had already stored 1.3 million tonnes of CO₂, operating at a full nameplate capacity that will see it store 1.7 million tonnes of emissions annually, subject to CO2 availability. This is the equivalent of taking 700,000 petrol vehicles off the road each year.

Unlocking future carbon solutions

A new era for Santos and Moomba

Onshore Installation Manager, Justin Turnbull, who has been working at Moomba since 2003, said the CCS project was a source of pride - not only for Santos but South Australia as a whole.

“We've been able to demonstrate that we can build a world class carbon capture and storage project right here in South Australia,” Turnbull said.

“We've been able to operate at full capacity [from start of operations] due to some tireless efforts from engineering project team and operations personnel, who all came together to build this project into what it is.”

Manager Maintenance and Reliability, Tom Fox, said the CCS project heralded a new era for Santos.

“This project really marks a transition for Santos, from our history of 70 years of providing reliable and affordable energy to unlocking a new business where we also provide carbon solutions,” Fox said.

“That allows us to provide solutions for ourselves and in the future, for Australian and regional customers. We've set a goal for ourselves by 2040 to have 14 million tonnes of third-party CO₂ that we can store underground safely."

“For Australia, the project really indicates the success of CCs in large scale carbon removal. We've shown that Australia has the potential to be a global superpower in CCS, helping decarbonise both our own emissions and those of our regional partners.”

Bringing Moomba CCS to life

Fox said the seamless launch of Moomba CCS spoke to the high level of collaboration across a range of teams at Santos.

“We have a lot of capability within the company, which spans 70 years operating in the Cooper Basin,” Fox said.

“For me, there are two standout innovations that have allowed Moomba CCS to be so successful.

“Firstly, the integration into the existing infrastructure in the Moomba plant. That introduced a lot of complexities; however, it's a key feature that allows Moomba CCS to be one of the lowest cost projects globally.

“We've really been able to work through as a team and bring the new project online without impacting base business.

“The other thing that comes to mind for me in terms of technological innovation is the leading work that our sub surface teams have done on injectivity and capacity modeling for the reservoirs.

“That's enabled the project to process every molecule of CO₂ that's coming through the plant and inject it all from day one.

“We're the first company in the world that has booked storage capacity for carbon capture projects – so our team has literally written the book on how you do projects of this kind.”

Turning potential into reality

Pipelines and policy development

Asia Natural Gas and Energy Association (ANGEA) Cross-Border CCS Advisor, Hanh Le, was delighted to get a close-up look at such a well-executed CCS project.

She said the success of Moomba would help pave the way for cross-border CCS value chains that could see as much as three gigatonnes of CO₂ captured and stored in Asia Pacific by 2050.

ANGEA and Boston Consulting Group undertook a ground-breaking study into cross-border CCS in 2024, which produced a first-of-its-kind framework that governments can employ to guide bilateral agreements.

“It is really inspiring to be at Moomba and see the pipelines where the CO2 is removed, transported and injected into the well,” Le said.

“It’s a reminder of why we’re doing all this policy work to incentivise low-carbon solutions.

“Moomba CCS is not just a domestic decarbonisation project, it reflects an opportunity for Australia to be a regional CCS hub for Asia Pacific - for countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, where they have capacity to capture CO₂ emissions but limited storage capacity."