King Flags Regulatory Overhaul for Offshore CCS Projects

Australia's offshore CCS regulations are under review, with federal and state-level reforms aiming to unlock long-term private investment

7 Mar 2026

Resources Minister Madeleine King has confirmed the federal government is reviewing regulatory requirements for offshore carbon capture and storage, a move designed to give long-term CCS investment the policy footing it has long lacked. Central to the review are potential reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, the Commonwealth's primary legislation for environmental approvals on major infrastructure.

King was direct about the stakes. Large-scale CCS, she argued, is not optional if Australia is to meet its legislated climate targets. She pointed to the country's two operational facilities at Gorgon and Moomba, which have collectively stored more than 13 million tonnes of CO2, while acknowledging that the lessons from both projects, technical and regulatory alike, must shape what comes next. Community confidence, she noted, depends on meeting the highest standards for safe and environmentally responsible storage.

The federal review dovetails with a parallel push at the state level. Western Australia released its inaugural CCUS Action Plan in November 2024, backed by A$26 million for two hub projects in the Pilbara and Mid West regions. The Petroleum Legislation Amendment Act 2024 followed, establishing a dedicated licensing framework for onshore and offshore greenhouse gas transport and storage. Draft regulations to bring that framework into operation went to public consultation in late 2025, with finalization anticipated in the coming months.

The broader pipeline has grown considerably. Seventeen storage projects are now in various stages of development across Australia, alongside the two already in operation. Industry attention has shifted toward how measurement, monitoring and verification frameworks can move beyond tick-box compliance and become tools for improving injection performance and managing the eventual transfer of long-term liability from operators to government. That last point matters enormously to investors, for whom regulatory ambiguity is often the decisive reason to hold back capital.

The signals out of Canberra suggest that calculus may be shifting. For an industry that needs billions in private investment to reach commercial scale, a more coherent and predictable framework would change the conversation.