China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced that construction has started on a carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) project at the Dongfang 1-1 gas field in south China's Hainan Province, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The project marks the country's first demonstration initiative applying offshore carbon injection technology to enhance natural gas production.

Once fully operational, the project is designed to permanently store more than 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide underground each year.

Carbon injection for enhanced gas recovery is a specialised branch of CCUS technology. 

Its core principle is to turn carbon dioxide emitted during natural gas extraction into a valuable resource. 

After being captured and purified, the carbon dioxide is pressurised and injected back into gas-bearing reservoirs, where it acts as a driving force to unlock hard-to-recover natural gas reserves.

Yu Fasong, head of the Dongfang 1-1 CCUS project at CNOOC Hainan, said the initiative will move decarbonisation processes from onshore plants directly to offshore platforms. 

This shift realises carbon reduction at the source for offshore natural gas production, sharply boosting operational efficiency and environmental performance, according to Yu.

Upon completion, the project will be fully connected to the existing production infrastructure of the Dongfang 1-1 gas field.

It will enhance the transportation capacity of the subsea pipeline network in the Yinggehai Sea, support the cost-effective development of more carbon-rich natural gas resources in the region, and help sustain long-term stable production of the entire Dongfang gas field cluster.