Australia’s federal government has granted Major Project Status to the Bonaparte Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project — the first offshore CCS initiative in the country to receive the designation.
The project is operated by Inpex Browse E&P (53%), a subsidiary of Inpex, in partnership with TotalEnergies CCS Australia (26%) and Woodside Energy (21%).
The recognition underscores both the project’s strategic importance to Australia’s net-zero ambitions and its potential to play a major role in decarbonizing industry.
Recent appraisal work has confirmed the presence of a high-quality saline aquifer in the Bonaparte Basin — located roughly 250 kilometers (155 miles) off the coast of Darwin — suitable for secure, long-term carbon storage.
Inpex believes the Bonaparte CCS project could rank among the largest commercial carbon storage efforts globally, with the capacity to store over 10 million metric tons of CO2 annually. It is positioned to significantly reduce emissions from northern Australia and support climate goals across the broader Asia-Pacific region.
The joint venture began early front-end engineering design (FEED) work in April 2025 and aims to begin CO2 injection operations by 2030. The team is also analyzing reservoir data to support a Declaration of Identified Greenhouse Gas Storage Formation—an important step before applying for an injection license.
Relevant: Inpex Advances Bonaparte Offshore CCS Project With Pre-FEED Launch
Samantha McCulloch, Chief Executive of Australian Energy Producers, welcomed the announcement by Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres, calling it a strong endorsement of CCS as a vital tool for large-scale emissions reductions.
“Australia has a comparative advantage in CCS, with world class geology, industry experience and strong links with regional trading partners looking to collaborate on CCS,” McCulloch said.
The country already hosts two of the world’s largest CCS projects—Chevron’s Gorgon and Santos–Beach Energy’s Moomba—together offsetting emissions equal to taking one million cars off the road annually.
A recent Net Zero Australia report suggests the country may need to develop between two and twenty CCS projects of Moomba’s scale each year through 2050 to meet its climate targets. The Bonaparte project is poised to play a key role in meeting that challenge.
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