West Papua: Indonesia Launches Groundbreaking Carbon Storage Project

The first carbon storage project in Indonesia was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo on Friday. It is a carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) project run by BP Plc (BP.L) in the region of West Papua.

Up to 1.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide might be stored by the CCUS project, according to a statement released on Friday by Arifin Tasrif, the energy minister.

A representative from the energy ministry stated in September that BP would contribute $2.6 billion to the project, with the first carbon injection anticipated in 2026. BP withheld an investment amount.

The completion of BP’s $4.83 billion Tangguh Train 3 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in West Papua last month marked the start of the new project.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) and CCUS development are priorities for Indonesia. Its estimated capacity to store carbon is 400 gigatonnes in saline aquifers and 8 gigatonnes in depleted oil and gas reservoirs.

According to data from the Energy Ministry, there are currently 15 CCS and CCUS projects in various stages of development around the nation, including BP’s project, with a combined investment of close to $8 billion.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) stated in a report on Thursday that while the global oil and gas industry is well-positioned to scale up such technology to help achieve the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, it might not be a significant, economically viable solution to reducing global warming if oil and gas production is not curtailed.

The president, known as Jokowi, also started building a fertilizer plant in Fakfak on the same trip to West Papua. The plant is intended to produce 1.15 million metric tonnes of urea fertilizer and 825,000 metric tonnes of ammonia fertilizer.

According to a statement released late on Thursday by the presidential palace, the plant is scheduled to cost 30 trillion rupiah ($1.94 billion) and take a full year to complete.