Malaysia enacts new regulation to accelerate carbon capture and storage development. (Image: iStock)
Malaysia, a major oil-producing country, has used carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to enhance oil recovery and generate foreign exchange. As the world moves toward energy transition, CCS has emerged as a key decarbonization technology.
The Malaysian government has passed the legislation to support CCS development. RECCESSARY takes a closer look at Malaysia’s CCS ambitions, highlighting the country's advantages, emerging challenges, and what Taiwan can learn from global frontrunners.
Malaysia’s parliament passed the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage Bill (CCUS Bill) in March 2025, with a plan to establish a dedicated agency to build out the industry’s market and supply chain. The government estimates the sector could generate up to USD 250 billion in added value.
What potential CCS partnerships are already on the table? And how are the government and participating companies envisioning the industry’s prospects?
High-pressure carbon storage in rock formations paves way for industrial carbon neutrality
Carbon storage and capture refers to the process of capturing CO2 emissions, typically from large point sources such as industrial facilities, and storing them underground to prevent their release into the atmosphere. When the captured CO2 is repurposed for industrial use, the process is referred to as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).
CCS is widely regarded as a crucial decarbonization tool for hard-to-abate industries, as the captured CO2 is treated and stored with minimal risk of leakage.
The principle of carbon storage involves compressing CO2 until it reaches supercritical state—a phase where it exhibits the high density of liquid but remains in the form of gas that can permeate porous rock formations and be injected into underground geological structures for permanent storage, preventing it from releasing into the atmosphere. According to the Global CCS Institute, such storage usually takes place at depth of 2 to 3 kilometers beneath the Earth’ surface in formations like depleted oil and gas reservoirs or deep saline aquifers.
Experts believe that the ideal depth of carbon storage is 2 to 3 kilometers beneath the Earth’s surface. (Image: Global CCS Institute)
It’s worth noting that most CCS technologies are designed to achieve carbon neutrality rather than remove carbon from the atmosphere. Only methods that do not add additional emissions and actively reduce CO2 from the atmosphere are considered “negative emissions” technologies, such as direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
According to Professor Hsieh Bieng-zih (謝秉志) of Department of Engineering at the National Cheng Kung University, the oil industry has been using carbon storage technology since the 1970s, injecting CO2 underground to enhance oil recovery. Today, such technique has evolved into a key decarbonization tool to help carbon-intensive industries, such as fossil fuel generation, to move toward carbon neutrality.
