Built by Chevron in 2016 at a likely cost of $88 billion, the facility produces 25 million metric tons of natural gas and up to 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.
That’s because the Gorgon gas field contains not just natural gas but also carbon dioxide (which exists in many gas fields around the world).
Chevron has to separate the carbon dioxide from the mixture before it can liquefy natural gas for transport.
But the Australian government granted Chevron the permission to extract gas on the condition that the company will bury some of the carbon dioxide.
The company said that, after initial tests are complete, it will bury as much as 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually—cutting the project’s carbon footprint by about 40%.
To put the reduction of greenhouse gases in perspective, all the rooftop solar installed in sunny Australia collectively saves the country about 6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics.
In Norway, Equinor (formerly Statoil) buries carbon dioxide in saline aquifers, because releasing the gas would require paying a steep carbon price.