November 24, 2023 [Reuters]- Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on Friday launched construction of a carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)project in West Papua province operated by BP Plc (BP.L), the country’s first carbon storage project.

The CCUS project has the potential to store up to 1.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, energy minister Arifin Tasrif said in a statement on Friday.

In September, an energy ministry official said BP will invest $2.6 billion in the project, with the first carbon injection expected in 2026. BP did not give an investment figure.

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

Indonesia is keen to develop CCUS and carbon capture and storage (CCS). It has an estimated carbon storage capacity of 8 gigatonnes in depleted oil and gas reservoirs and 400 gigatonnes in saline aquifers.

Energy ministry data shows there are currently 15 CCS and CCUS projects in various stages of preparation in the country with a combined investment of nearly $8 billion, including BP’s project.

While the international oil and gas industry is well placed to scale up such technology to help achieve the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Thursday it may not be a major, economically viable solution to reducing global warming if oil and gas production is not cut back.

During the same trip to West Papua, Jokowi, as the president is known, also launched construction of a fertiliser plant in Fakfak which is designed to produce 1.15 million metric tonnes of urea fertiliser and 825,000 metric tonnes of ammonia fertiliser.

The investment for the plant is estimated at 30 trillion rupiah ($1.94 billion) and construction is expected to be concluded in 2038, according to a statement from the presidential palace late on Thursday.

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