Northern Territory’s geological storage potential for carbon, hydrogen & compressed air

The Northern Territory Government, in collaboration with the CSIRO, have released a study on the geological storage potential for carbon dioxide, hydrogen and compressed air across several of the Territory’s onshore basins.

The report, entitled CO₂, H₂ and compressed air energy storage site screening study – selected onshore basins in the Northern Territory, provides an examination of the Amadeus, Bonaparte (onshore), Georgina, McArthur (including the Beetaloo Sub-basin) and Ngalia basins.

It includes an assessment of their geological storage potential across hydrocarbon reservoirs, saline aquifers and salt diapirs.

Commissioned by the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) under its Resourcing the Territory program, the study collates the available stratigraphic and petrophysical data for these basins into a series of regional prospectivity maps.

Ranking criteria include: capacity (how much can be stored); injectivity (how easily it can be injected); level of knowledge (data availability); containment (risk of escape); and existing resources/infrastructure.

These provide potential plays for carbon capture and storage (CCS), underground hydrogen storage (UHS) and compressed air energy storage (CAES).

According to the report, the most prospective or highest-ranked plays occur within the Kiana Group of the basal Georgina Basin, the Moroak Sandstone of the Beetaloo Sub-basin, the Kulshill Group of the onshore Bonaparte Basin, as well as the Palm Valley and Ooraminna gas fields of the Amadeus Basin.

The report can be downloaded through the Northern Territory Government’s Geoscience Exploration and Mining Information System (GEMIS).