Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn met with Madeleine King, Australia’s Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia, on February 2 in Seoul to discuss bilateral cooperation measures in energy and resources areas, including critical minerals, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and natural gas, as well as issues faced by Korean companies in relation with Australia’s energy regulations.

Both countries shared the need to diversify the supply chain and reduce reliance on other countries for critical minerals and agreed to make further effort to expand their scope of cooperation from upstream areas like exploration, development and production to downstream areas like refining, smelting and processing.

Next, the two ministers agreed to promptly proceed with procedures necessary for the Korea-Australia CO2 transport agreement to smoothly implement the CCS investment project for transporting the CO2 captured in Korea for permanent storage in Australia’s depleted gas reservoirs.

Minister Ahn conveyed the concerns expressed by Korean firms regarding the extension of the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM) to 2030 and asked for clarification of the Australian safeguard mechanism standards of carbon emission reduction duties on greenhouse gas emissions-intensive facilities.