THE ROLE OF SITE SURVEYS IN CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE

摘要

To constrain the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, there are European and nationalrndrives to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) schemes for the permanent geological storage ofrnCO2 from industrial sources in deeply buried strata. Currently, offshore sites are considered preferable torngeological store in strata onshore. Although the target storage reservoirs, saline aquifers or former hydrocarbonrnfields are often at depths of 1km or more, knowledge of the shallow area is important. This is not onlyrnfor the positioning of infrastructure, wells, pipelines, etc., but also in the monitoring of any potential leakagernfrom the reservoir over the site’s lifetime, which may span 25-50 years. Baseline and repeat surveys are necessaryrnand may need to cover a considerably wider area than the expected plume extent in the reservoir, dependingrnon the predicted gas leakage pathways. Hence a complete geological model is required from the proposedrnreservoir at a depth that is up to and includes the seabed.