Carbon capture and storage in Australia Carbon capture and storage in Australia Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an approach to try to mitigate global warming by capturing carbon dioxide from large point sources such as fossil fuel power plants and storing it instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. Carbon capture and storage is also used to sequester filtered out of natural gas from certain from natural gas fields. While typically the has no value after being stored, Enhanced Oil Recovery uses to increase yield from declining oil fields. There are no currently-operating large-scale CCS projects in Australia, although the Gorgon gas project will qualify
Carbon in the Earth's atmosphere (approximately 810 gigatonnes of carbon) and dissolved in all water bodies (approximately 36,000 gigatonnes of carbon). Around 1,900 gigatonnes of carbon are present in the biosphere. Hydrocarbons (such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas) contain carbon as well. Coal "reserves" (not "resources") amount to around 900 gigatonnes with perhaps 18,000 Gt of resources. Oil reserves are around 150 gigatonnes. Proven sources of natural gas are about (containing about 105 gigatonnes of carbon), but studies estimate another of "unconventional" deposits such as shale gas, representing about 540 gigatonnes of carbon. Carbon is also found in methane hydrates