Santos’s carbon abatement PNG Biomass repurposing project has won the Chamber of Mines and Petroleum 2022 Industry Award for outstanding environmental or climate change initiative.
“We are very proud to accept this Award and appreciate the industry recognition of our efforts in making a significant contribution to the Environment and Climate Change,” said Tau Homoka, Santos Vice President for Special Projects when accepting the Award in Sydney at the 16th PNG Mining and Petroleum Investment Conference & Exhibition Dinner on Monday, 5 December.
Brett Darley, Santos President Upstream Oil & Gas told conference delegates in his speech that prioritizing nature-based carbon offset projects across Santos’ areas of operation provides the benefits of decarbonization, as well as better social outcomes for local communities.
He noted that the premise is quite straightforward.
“We work to establish and grow trees that take carbon from the atmosphere; we enhance biodiversity by creating habitat, and we deliver social development and economic benefit to communities.
“The current acreage totals around 3600 hectares, with four million trees already planted over the 160km length of the Markham Valley. Our nursery currently houses approximately 146,000 trees and has the capacity to more than double this as we expand; we have more than 100 agreements in place and maintained with local landholders.”
He said they are aiming for the project to sequester over eight million tonnes of CO2 over its life – a great step towards decarbonization in PNG.
The PNG Biomass project is being actively repurposed into a sustainable carbon project growing mixed-species of predominantly native trees in the Markham Valley, Morobe Province to the benefit of: