(743h) Carbon Capture and Storage – the Risk and Rewards

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is expected to play a vital role in the global fight against climate change. This presentation will introduce the overall concept of CCS, along with some of its nuances, before describing the rewards it can deliver and the risks and challenges it presents. It will outline the key health and safety risks, focusing in particular on the issues around reservoir integrity; widely seen as the greatest safety and ethical challenge. Geological security is clearly paramount to the success of CCS. Unless the long-term integrity of underground storage can be ensured, the environmental benefits of CCS will not be achieved and public health could be compromised. Using practical case studies, this presentation will explore the factors that can reduce storage integrity by weakening the cap rock or creating leak paths that bypass the sea, namely; acidic fluid action, existing geological faults, stress of injection, diffusion and lateral migration for example, before describing how existing knowledge, experience tools and techniques can be innovatively reworked to provide an effective means of managing these risks.

This presentation will also touch on what we consider to be the greatest risk to the sustainable proliferation of CCS - treating it as something entirely new and innovative. Whilst clearly a novel concept presenting significant new challenges, it will rely on many existing systems and processes. Granted these will often be used in reverse (e.g. using an offshore platform and subsea pipeline in reverse to inject CO2 rather than extract oil and gas) and will accommodate a different medium, but many of the tools and techniques required to assess and manage these risks will be very similar. Also deep knowledge and experience of these facilities will exist which will be of huge benefit to this repurposing.

CCS can play a major role in our fight against climate change but it comes with a range of technical, geological, health, safety, environmental, and ethical challenges. However, by repurposing the old, borrowing the proven, and innovating the new, CCS can meet these challenges and achieve its full potential in a safe and sustainable way. This presentation will focus on our experiences in meeting these challenges using practical case studies from projects we have completed.