On 31 July 2024, the Northern Territory Government and Vopak signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), to develop a common-user infrastructure including a CO2 import terminal in the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct - Northern Territory, Australia, according to Vopak's release.
The MoU frames how the government and Vopak will cooperate to progress the development of common user CO2 import, storage and handling infrastructure in Darwin.
The CO2 import, storage and handling infrastructure will be designed to manage the import, storage and distribution of carbon dioxide in an efficient and accessible way. The facility will be shared infrastructure that can be used by various companies to help manage CO2 emissions.
The imported CO2 can come from different sources such as industrial plants that capture CO2 to prevent it from being released to the atmosphere. Also CO2 from neighbouring countries can be handled. Once the CO2 is imported, it needs to be stored safely in large tanks before it will be transferred to a permanent destination, for example in underground facilities CCS, or followed by recycling the CO2 for utilization (CCUS).