The Noble Tom Prosser rig will soon be drilling in Bass Strait – about eight kilometres offshore from Ninety Mile Beach – for the CarbonNet project, supported by the Andrews Labor Government.

The aim of the drilling program is to prove that rock structures deep under the seabed can permanently store carbon dioxide emissions from the nearby Latrobe Valley, reducing emissions into the atmosphere.

Ahead of its trip to Gippsland, the rig will be viewable from the Port Phillip Bay shore as it comes through the heads and is unloaded from a large lift vessel before being towed out of the bay and east towards Gippsland.

The CarbonNet project is advancing the science of commercial-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) through investigations at the Pelican site in Bass Strait, which has the potential to store the equivalent emissions from one million cars a year over a 25-year period.

CCS has been extensively trialled in Victoria with 80,000 tonnes of CO2 safely stored for a decade at the CO2CRC’s Otway research facility. The process involves capturing emissions from industry and storing the carbon deep below the seabed in rock structures, similar to the way oil and gas is stored naturally.

Drilling at the Pelican site in Bass Strait is expected to take between 45 and 60 days – the rig will operate with a 500m exclusion zone in place for marine safety.

Offshore appraisal wells are used to confirm the properties of rock layers below the seabed and are common to the oil and gas sector in Bass Strait, having been used for more than 50 years. This drilling activity has an approved Environmental Plan and will not target oil or gas deposits.

Governments around the world are looking to CCS to help meet greenhouse gas emission targets, complementing increased use of renewables and improved energy efficiency, with CarbonNet one of 51 CCS projects proposed or in place globally.