Energy Shift Southeast Asia

Greenpeace activists scale fossil gas platform in Gulf of Thailand to challenge offshore carbon capture scam

Image from Greenpeace Thailand

The Gulf of Thailand’s EEZ – Activists from Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior conducted a peaceful banner protest against a proposed offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) site at the Arthit fossil gas field located in the Gulf of Thailand’s exclusive economic zone to highlight the fossil industry’s greenwashing.

Greenpeace Thailand campaigner, Alliya Moun-Ob on board the Rainbow Warrior said, “With my own eyes, I can see the proposed CCS project at fossil gas field is doing nothing to do with a low-carbon pathway, but a license for the one of the biggest climate polluters in Thailand, PTT Exploration and Production Public Co Ltd (PTTEP), to continue killing our climate and making a lot of profit. We urged the Thai government to make polluters pay and to reform climate policy in such a way that it embraces a wide range of non-market-based solutions and approaches that are focused on people, and moves beyond carbon offset markets. We called on PTTEP to hold it accountable for its contribution to the climate crisis by stopping this carbon capture and storage plan immediately.”

The Arthit fossil gas field is operated by PTTEP, which is a joint-venture with Chevron. It will be the site of Thailand’s first offshore carbon capture and storage project and among at least 57 proposals for offshore carbon sequestration worldwide representing a new threat to the world’s oceans and a dangerous distraction from real progress on climate change. As outlined in its proposal, the project is designed to be a component of its ongoing offshore gas extraction. Between 700,000 and 1 million tons of CO2 per year would be separated from produced gas, then compressed and re-injected under the seabed for storage in saline aquifers and depleted gas fields. A tremendous amount of energy is needed for each stage, along with potentially various risks to the marine ecosystem.

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Originally posted by Greenpeace