Indonesia's Pertamina, Exxonmobil, KNOC Sign Deal for CCS Hub Development

Indonesia's state energy firm Pertamina, U.S. major ExxonMobil and South Korea's KNOC on Wednesday signed a framework agreement for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) hub development in Indonesia. Pertamina and ExxonMobil also signed a deal for preliminary work to develop and build the CCS hub in the Sunda-Asri basins in the Java sea.

KNOC will join the partnership to inject their emissions into the facility, Nicke Widyawati, chief executive of Pertamina told reporters at the Indonesia Petroleum Association's annual conference. Indonesia is keen to utilise its depleted oil and gas reservoirs and saline aquifers as carbon storage, which the government said has the potential to store hundreds of gigatonnes of CO2.

The government this year issued a regulation allowing CCS operators to set aside 30% of their storage capacity for imported CO2.