AAPG Statements on:
- Geologic Carbon Storage
- Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Resources
- Hydraulic Fracturing
- Preservation of Geological and Geophysical Data
- National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska Access
- Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Access
- United States National Energy Supply
- Climate Change
- Tax Reform
- Natural Gas Supply Concerns
- Reformation of the Endangered Species Act
- Reformation of the Clean Water Act -- Wetlands Access
- Offshore OCS Access
- Research and Development Needs
- Oil and Gas Workforce Needs in the 21st Century
Geologic Carbon Storage (PDF)
Issue:
As fossil fuel demand increases worldwide, increased use will result in a rise in CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Geologic carbon storage is a carbon management strategy suggested for capturing CO2 from stationary point sources, such as electrical power generation and industrial facilities. The CO2 is injected into stable geologic reservoirs with low-permeability seals that permanently isolate stored CO2 from the atmosphere.
Background:
Various governmental agencies and industries worldwide are identifying and investigating candidate reservoirs for the storage of CO2, including deep saline formations, mature oil and gas reservoirsCO2 and coal beds. The reservoirs may be selected to either store the CO2 permanently or to make it available for subsequent commercial use. Most current geologic carbon storage operations are limited to research and development ventures, although exceptions exist.
The oil and gas industry’s many years of experience play a critical role in advancing the science and practice of geologic carbon storage. This includes 10 years of experience at Sleipner, Norway, In Salah, Algeria, and other places capturing and storing CO2 in the subsurface. The industry also has 30 years of experience using CO2 from natural geologic reservoirs and anthropogenic sources for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations and more than 50 years of natural gas storage in saline reservoirs, where the long history of safe storage serves as a working laboratory for carbon sequestration. In addition to CO2 EOR, CO2 enhanced gas recovery (EGR) is also possible.
While EOR and EGR operations are not conducted for CO2 storage purposes, the oil and gas industry’s practical knowledge of EOR technologies related to injection, reservoir performance, transportation, and materials handling is broadly available and has direct application to the practices of geologic carbon storage. Permanent, large-scale geologic storage of CO2 will occur only when carefully defined carbon management policies receive public, financial (commercial and economic), and government approval.
Statement:
Geologic CO2 storage represents an important technology for mitigating increased atmospheric CO2. Just as industry experience in CO2 EOR and EGR benefits geologic carbon storage activities, research and technology development for carbon storage will also increase understanding of subsurface processes occurring in CO2 EOR and EGR operations. This should result in increased efficiency and broader opportunities for the production of incremental oil and gas. Therefore, AAPG urges the expansion of funding for scientific research on permanent carbon storage and for the scientific research related to reservoir performance.
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