Decarbonizing Borneo's power and industry sectors by carbon capture and storage

Abstract

Borneo, the third-largest island in the world, is divided among three countries – Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. In 2020, Borneo emitted 102.5 Mtpa CO2 with 30.8 Mtpa and 40.2 Mtpa, respectively, coming from the power and industry sectors. This paper investigates the opportunities to decarbonize these sectors by carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies by evaluating the CO2 storage potential in oil and gas reservoirs and saline aquifers in eleven sedimentary basins in Borneo. Our methodology consists of quantifying stationary CO2 sources, identifying locations for centralized capture hubs, quantifying CO2 storage capacities in saline aquifers, and oil and gas fields using reservoir engineering principles, and mapping CO2 sources to the nearest sinks. It is found that there is 164 Gt of mid-CO2 storage capacity in Borneo's sedimentary basins, enough to store 900 years of CO2 emission from stationary sources. Of this, 152 Gt (92%) comes from saline aquifers, 11 Gt (7%) from gas reservoirs, and only 1.1 Gt (1%) from oil reservoirs. Results show that 75 oil and gas fields in Borneo are suitable for CO2-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or enhanced gas recovery (EGR), with potential amounting to 1889 MMbbl and 794 MMbbl, respectively. Furthermore, this study has identified four CCS hubs for CCS projects in Borneo. The Balikpapan, Kalimantan, Sarawak, and Brunei hubs can temporarily handle up to 41 Mtpa CO2, or 57% of Borneo's stationary emission, before it is transported to nearby subsurface sites for permanent storage. Furthermore, using CCS technologies, Indonesian Kalimantan's vast coal reserves may produce blue hydrogen for domestic consumption and export to Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, thus creating new economic opportunities.