Study: North Sea Proves Best Location for Storing CO2

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The North Sea has been identified as the best location in the world for storing carbon dioxide (CO2) captured from power and industrial plants.

In the first comprehensive study of the geological storage resources for almost 50 countries around the world, the Global CCS Institute found that the CO2 storage potential in the depleted oil and gas fields North Sea are "among the most thoroughly understood in the world".

The Global Storage Portfolio found that the nation's leading the way on storage readiness include Canada, Norway, the U.S. and the U.K. The report highlighted the critical importance of identifying and quantifying storage sites as part of the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

"CCS is a vital technology for meeting the world's targets for mitigating global warming at least cost--the very objective is simply impossible without CCS," said Andrew Purvis, the Institute's general manager of Europe, Middle East and Africa. "Availability of storage space for the injected CO2 is a critical precondition of a CCS project. Not knowing how much storage potential is available could significantly undermine a nation's ability to meet emissions reduction targets, by hampering their ability to deploy CCS in a timely fashion."

He added: "The assessment of offshore storage resources in the North Sea, complemented by detailed evaluation of the storage capacity at several specific sites and the availability of oil industry infrastructure for re-use, should provide a significant advantage to CCS deployment there".

The report only assessed "proven storage scenarios," including deep saline formations, depleted or depleting oil and gas fields, and enhanced oil recovery using CO2.

CCS rollout is still rare at a commercial level with many countries still implementing pilot projects. The industry was struck a severe blow in December when the U.K. government suddenly scrapped a £1 billion ($1.5 billion) competition fund for leading commercial scale CCS projects at a number of power plants. The move threatens the future of the U.K.'s two leading CCS projects at the Drax coal-fired plant in Selby, England and the gas-fired Peterhead plant in Scotland. For additional information, see December 2, 2015, article - U.K. Cancels Funding for Carbon Capture Projects.

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