Offshore CO2 Storage Resource Assessment of the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Assessing reservoir performance for geologic carbon sequestration in offshore saline reservoirs

“…Other offshore basins, e.g., in Southeast Brazil, Western Australia, and the Atlantic coast of Africa (Niger and Congo systems), are not currently proximal to major CO 2 emissions, but have significant storage potential, as well as hydrocarbon producing fields that could benefit from CCS. Our analysis of potentially favorable offshore basins for CO 2 storage closely matches past studies of offshore storage potential for the Gulf of Mexico 20,69,70 and the world. 71,72 Since the cost of constructing CO 2 transportation infrastructure is a major impediment to its development, matching CO 2 emissions sources to potential reservoirs is critical for global adoption of carbon sequestration.…”

Major CO2 blowouts from offshore wells are strongly attenuated in water deeper than 50 m

“…11,12 Maps of near-offshore oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere show very high densities of old wells subject to potential individual and collective leakage including blowouts. 13 As part of evaluating the GCS potential of the offshore Gulf of Mexico region, it is necessary to evaluate the consequences of potential major CO 2 well blowouts. We note that near-offshore GCS will also involve subsea CO 2 pipelines and distribution lines that are also subject to non-zero failure likelihood and whose ruptures would result in major CO 2 flows into the water column very similar to well blowouts, although they would likely be short-lived as the pipeline would be shutdown after detection of the leak.…”

“…Statistics of onshore well blowout incidents and associated risk perception, including blowouts from steam injection wells, have been analyzed as a way of inferring blowout risk for a future widespread implementation of onshore GCS . Maps of near‐offshore oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere show very high densities of old wells subject to potential individual and collective leakage including blowouts . As part of evaluating the GCS potential of the offshore Gulf of Mexico region, it is necessary to evaluate the consequences of potential major CO 2 well blowouts.…”

Impact of CO2 mixing with trapped hydrocarbons on CO2 storage capacity and security: A case study from the Captain aquifer (North Sea)

“…The mixing of injected CO 2 and lighter in-situ hydrocarbon gas can take place wherever CO 2 storage meets hydrocarbons in the subsurface, a likely situation in future CCS developments as the presence of hydrocarbons is often regarded as a confirmation of suitable storage characteristics [17,18]. Worldwide examples include storage systems from the North Sea (Europe) [8], the Gulf of Mexico (US) [19,20] or the Middle East [21], all of which have been appraised for CO 2 storage activities. This study illustrates the impact of mixing for CO 2 injection in Captain X storage site, an open aquifer storage system and part of the greater Captain aquifer located in the Moray Firth, North Sea, but it is relevant for most large scale storage operations in saline aquifers.…”