Australia plans carbon storage under ocean

By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia plans to allow greenhouse gas emissions to be stored in the ocean floor around the island continent, with exploration for suitable sites possibly starting in 2008.

Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said the government would amend the Offshore Petroleum Act this year to allow for seabed storage of carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations.

"Australia has significant geological storage potential, particularly in our offshore sedimentary basins," Ferguson told an energy conference in Sydney late on Tuesday.

"I am hoping that amendments to the Offshore Petroleum Act 2006 will be passed in time for the government to release acreage for exploration in 2008, making Australia one of the first countries in the world to establish a regulated carbon capture and storage regime," Ferguson said.

Green groups are critical of the plan to store carbon emissions in the ocean floor, saying they are concerned about the chances of leakage of emissions into the ocean environment.

"The coal and energy corporations are doubtless lobbying hard for the government to carry all liability for any leakages while they continue to profit from their polluting practices," Greens Senator Christine Milne told local media on Wednesday.

Australia's Labor government, elected in November 2007, ratified the Kyoto Protocol the following month, reversing an 11-year policy by the previous conservative government.

Rudd's government has made climate change a priority and has released a "National Clean Coal Initiative" which will see a regulatory regime for access and tenure to offshore Australia for geological storage.