Trio to develop ‘first offshore floating CCS hub project in Asia Pacific’

Three companies – Technip Energies, deepC Store and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) – have joined forces to develop a floating, carbon capture and storage (CCS) hub, which is described as “the first large-scale offshore multi-user hub” in the Asia Pacific region.

As disclosed on Tuesday, the trio executed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations of the CO₂ floating storage and injection (FSI) hub facility scope for the CStore1 project.

Commenting on this, Yasuchika Noma, Executive Officer of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, remarked: “As a provider of social infrastructure service in addition to traditional shipping, MOL is honoured to have an opportunity to expand our involvement in CStore1 project. We are also delighted about another collaboration with deepC Store and T.EN in this project for further development.”

This project is described by Technip Energies as “the first large-scale offshore multi-user hub” and has a planned CO₂ injection capacity of between 1.5 and 7.5 million tonnes per annum, supporting industry and community goals towards decarbonisation and transitioning to a sustainable future.

Furthermore, the CStore1 project covers the entire CCS value chain and consists of capturing and liquefying CO₂ from multiple industrial sources in Australia and potentially the Asia Pacific region. It entails shipping liquid CO₂ from industrial sources to CStore1’s FSI hub located offshore Northern/Western Australia.

In addition, the project includes offloading and temporarily storing liquid CO₂ at the FSI hub prior to injection and injecting and storing CO₂ in a permanent subsurface geological formation near the FSI hub.

Jack Sato, Chairman of deepC Store, stated: “The FSI hub is a key facility within the overall CStore1 project for unlocking a range of remote offshore CO₂ injection sites.  The LOI with MOL and T.EN ensures technical confidence to develop CStore1 as the first offshore floating CCS hub project in Asia Pacific region.”

Moreover, based on the agreement between the three firms, Technip Energies will provide FEED and EPC services for the FSI hub using its Offshore C-Hub technology, while Mitsui O.S.K. Lines will provide operation and maintenance services for this FSI hub.

Additionally, Genesis, Technip Energies’ wholly owned subsidiary, will support the delivery of the FSI hub by providing engineering of the subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) component of the facility, including architecture selection, flow assurance, engineering for risers and flowlines, and christmas trees.

Paul Browne, Australia Country Manager of Technip Energies, said: “Working with our development partners deepC Store and MOL, and advisory subsidiary Genesis, we look forward to creating a cost-effective and sustainable option for the receiving and handling of carbon in the region.”

This announcement comes less than two weeks after Woodside and its joint venture partners – BP, MIMI, Shell, and Chevron – were awarded acreage off the northwestern coast of Western Australia, which they intend to evaluate for the establishment of a large-scale, multi-user CCS hub.

Australia is going full steam ahead towards the realisation of its decarbonisation goals. To this end, another award of acreage offshore Australia was revealed in late August, which was given to Inpex and its joint venture partners, Woodside Energy and TotalEnergies. The trio plan to evaluate the potential for a large-scale CCS site for a carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) hub.