Victorian Geological Carbon Storage (VicGCS)
Unlocking Victoria’s CO₂ storage potential

What's new? | What is GCS? | Why is GCS important to Victoria? | Tenders and contracts | VicGCS - Gippsland Basin

The Victorian Geological Carbon Storage (VicGCS) Initiative is researching the regional carbon dioxide (CO2) storage capacity of the Gippsland Basin. This four-year, $5.2 million project is being delivered by GeoScience Victoria, a branch of the Earth Resources Division of the Department of Primary Industries. Partnerships with industry, government and the research community are an important feature of how the project will be delivered. The initiative commenced in July 2008 and will be completed in June 2012. For an overview of the VicGCS initiative download the VicGCS fact sheet (PDF 1.1MB). You will need Adobe Reader to view the fact sheet, a free copy can be downloaded from the Adobe website.

What’s new?

July 2009 - July 10 - DPI has extended the tender period for RFT307246 3D Geological Framework of the Gippsland Basin. Tender closing is now 2:00pm AEST Thursday 30 July 2009. In addition, the period for clarification questions has also been extended to close of business Thursday 23 July 2009. Tender Document RFT 307246 Part A Conditions of Tender Section Reference Schedule has been amended to Version 2 to reflect the extended period.

July 8 - Clarification Questions and Answers Version 1 for RFT307246 was released on Tuesday 7 July 2009 and are available with the tender documents in the DPI section of www.tenders.vic.gov.au (external link). The questions have come primarily from the optional Industry Brief held on Thursday 2 July 2009. More about tenders...

June 2009 - The Request for Tender RFT307246 3D Geological Framework of the Gippsland Basin was released on Wednesday 24 June 2009. The tender is seeking a supplier to use and interpret existing seismic data to develop a digital 3D framework of the Gippsland Basin. More about tenders...

April 2009 - The first VicGCS report Geological Carbon Storage in the Gippsland Basin, Australia: Containment potential is now available for free download from the Online Store. The report is an initial study to determine areas in the Gippsland Basin where CO₂ could be trapped or contained safely within the sub-surface geology (at depths between 1,000-3,000 m) for long periods of time. It also outlines the regions in the Gippsland Basin that have excellent, good and poor CO₂ containment potential.

March 2009 - On 27 March 2009, three permit areas for geological carbon storage in the VicGCS study area of the Gippsland Basin were released by the Federal Government. In addition, two permit areas in the Torquay Sub-basin are available.

Find out more about the Federal Government’s acreage release, including application guidelines by visiting the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism website (external link).

September 2008 - Paper presented at the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia's Eastern Australasian Basins Symposium III - First order sealing and hydrocarbon migration processes, Gippsland Basin, Australia: implications for CO₂ geosequestration.

What is geological carbon storage?

Geological carbon storage (GCS) is the process of injecting CO₂ that has been captured from coal and gas fired power stations into underground geological structures, such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs or deep saline (salty water) aquifers. The CO₂ is injected at depths greater than 800m as a high pressure, relatively dense fluid.

Why is geological carbon storage important to Victoria, Australia?

GCS offers the potential to substantially reduce the amount of CO₂ currently released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas by storing it permanently underground. In order to continue using the Latrobe Valley’s vast brown coal resources and secure Victoria’s energy future, it is critical that a commercial GCS industry is established. This is vital to the social, economic and environmental future of Victoria.

More information about the Victorian Government’s commitment to reducing CO₂ emissions from coal-fired power stations in available on the Near Zero Emissions webpage.