Located in southwestern Victoria, the CO2CRC Otway Project is the first operational CO2 storage pilot project in Australia.
Launched in April 2008, the project involves the extraction, compression and transport and storage of naturally occurring CO2. The CO2 is stored in a depleted natural gas reservoir two kilometres below the Earth’s surface.
A key project feature is its world-leading CO2 monitoring program. Designed, developed and implemented by CO2CRC researchers from Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada, this comprehensive monitoring program will contribute to the development of new monitoring technologies for safe CO2 storage.
The first stage of the project has now been successfully completed after the safe injection and storage of over 65,000 tonnes of CO2. It has demonstrated advanced monitoring techniques that can used for commercial scale CO2 storage operations in the future. [PDF]
A new phase of research is now underway. A new well has been drilled into a saline formation at a depth of 1500m. Small amounts of CO2 will be injected as part of research to evaluate different kinds of CO2 trapping mechanisms and refine monitoring methods. [PDF]
The CO2CRC Otway Project’s promising results have opened the door for researchers to expand it into new and important areas, and gain a better understanding of carbon storage.
The project has been financially supported by the Australian Federal Government, the Victorian State Government, and the US Department of Energy, as well as CO2CRC members including the Australian Coal Association Research Program.
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