KUCHING: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) will be the first entity to lease former oil wells for use as carbon storage sites, beginning in 2026.
Deputy Minister for Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Datuk Dr Hazland Abang Hipni, confirmed the matter but did not disclose how many oil wells PETRONAS will lease starting next year.
“The first lessee starting next year is PETRONAS. The number of locations to be leased is still unknown,” he said to reporters after officiating at the Angkatan Zaman Mansang Sarawak (AZAM) Media Coffee Chat at CityOne Megamall, here yesterday (May 5).
Citing a nearby example, Dr Hazland said the oil well at the Kasawari field is capable of storing five million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
“Imagine, in a year it stores five million tonnes. Multiply that by 25 years, and you’re looking at over 100 million tonnes that can be stored.
“This means in just 25 years, you already have a guaranteed source of returns — and that’s just from one well,” he added.
Earlier, Dr Hazland revealed that Sarawak has more than 1,000 oil wells that could be developed into carbon storage hubs in line with the state’s green economy agenda.
He said these oil wells have the capacity to store at least nine billion tonnes of carbon — far exceeding the carbon storage capacity of Sarawak’s forests, which is estimated to be between 750 million to one billion tonnes.
