SK E&S to Launch Large-Scale Afforestation Project with East Timor Government

Carbon Reduction by Burying Carbon and Planting Trees in Dongtimor

SK E&S announced that it will start a CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) project to repurpose a gas field, scheduled to cease production in March, as a carbon dioxide storage site. The photo shows the 'Bayu-Undan' gas field located offshore East Timor. SK E&S revealed on March 10 that it has begun the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) work to convert this gas field into a CCS plant. (Photo by SK E&S) [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] SK E&S is partnering with the government of Timor-Leste to jointly promote a large-scale forest development project aimed at carbon reduction.

On the 4th, SK E&S announced that it signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the development of a sustainable afforestation and forest conservation project in Timor-Leste with the Timor-Leste government and SK Forestry at COEX in Seoul. The agreement was signed during the Timor-Leste government delegation's visit to Korea to attend the World Forestry Congress (WFC). The World Forestry Congress, organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is the largest international event in the forestry sector, and the 15th Congress is being held in Korea from the 2nd to the 6th over five days.

The participants of the agreement agreed to jointly discover and promote business opportunities for forest creation and restoration, including new afforestation, reforestation, and prevention of forest degradation within Timor-Leste.

Recently, global companies have been expanding investments in forest creation and conservation projects to achieve net zero (zero net carbon emissions) goals.

In the case of SK E&S, it has been collaborating with Santos Australia and the Timor-Leste government to convert the Bayu-Undan offshore natural gas production facility in Timor-Leste into a CCS (carbon capture and storage) plant. The carbon dioxide (CO₂) generated during natural gas production at the Barossa gas field, located offshore north of Australia, will be separated and captured, then permanently stored in the Bayu-Undan gas field, which is scheduled to cease production soon.

Lim Si-jong, Head of Power and LNG Business at SK E&S, emphasized, "We plan to realize the '2040 Net Zero Promotion' goal by securing carbon emission rights through various methods, including investments in CCS and forest development projects in the Timor-Leste region." Pedro dos Reis, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Timor-Leste, said, "We hope that the forest development cooperation with SK E&S and SK Forestry will be a great opportunity to improve Timor-Leste's forest ecosystem and contribute to solving global warming."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.