Carbon Storage
The potential of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS, also known as carbon sequestration) for the removal of large volumes of CO2 from power stations and industrial clusters prior to its release into the atmosphere, depends on suitable reservoir and trap that will maintain seal integrity over thousands of years. Not surprisingly then, a successful CCUS strategy relies on many aspects of geoscience that have been developed over decades of hydrocarbon exploration and production – including porosity and permeability evaluation, fracture network characterisation, fault seal analysis, structural trap appraisal, geomechanics, and capacity estimation.
Example Project 1: Detailed CO2 Storage Site Evaluation
Client:
UK Government
The Setting:
Offshore saline aquifers and former oil and gas fields on the UK continental shelf, in support of UK government’s drive towards net-zero (in collaboration with WSP, Crondall Energy, and GeoEnergy Durham).
The Value:
Providing technical advice to BEIS on CCUS by supporting GeoEnergy Durham in detailed evaluation of aspects relating to geological storage.
Techologies:
Sub-surface geoscience, reservoir, seal, trap characterisation, geomechanics, capacity estimation, injectivity evaluation.
Example Project 2: CCUS Site Evaluation – Regional Screening
Client: Energy Technologies Institute
The Setting:
£4m project to assess of the overall UK carbon dioxide storage capacity in offshore geological formations (joint project together with LR Senergy Ltd, BGS, Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage, Durham University, GeoPressure Technology Ltd, Imperial College London, RPS Energy and Element Energy Ltd).
The Value:
The UK’s first carbon dioxide storage appraisal database, enabling more informed decisions on the economics of CO2 storage opportunities.
Technologies:
GIS, geospatial analysis, analysis of production data, reservoir characterisation, risking.
Reference:
Example Project 3: Dynamic Modelling of CO2 storage
Client: One North East and supporting energy companies.
The Setting:
Potential sites for CO2 storage, Northern Permian Basin, offshore UK.
The Value:
Dynamic modelling of CO2 storage in a saline aquifer (consistent with EU directive 2009/31/EC), and improved modelling of the interaction between CO2 and fractures.
Technologies:
Numerical modelling, reservoir modelling, fractures & fluid flow.
Reference:
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