State-of-the-Art Summary

Carbon Dioxide Storage: Opportunities for the E&P Industry
by Karl Lang with Hart Energy Publishing, LP

Between the two extremes of the climate change debate—denial that warming is taking place on one end of the spectrum and hyperbolized consequences and demands for drastic economic sacrifice at the other end—a middle ground is forming that relies on technological innovation. The idea is that a near-term solution could be to capture and permanently store (sequester) carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from our largest and most concentrated streams (power plants, refineries, etc) in geologic formations. This approach would allow us to continue to use our most abundant and inexpensive forms of energy (oil, gas and coal) while reducing carbon dioxide's contribution to global warming. The US Department of Energy sees this approach as one possible transition to an eventual zero-emission, hydrogen-fueled future, and is deeply involved in helping to develop the technologies needed to enable subsurface geologic sequestration on a wide scale.

The oil and gas E&P industry can play a leading role in this effort. Well acquainted with the injection of high-pressure gases, the industry can provide a link between the capture of CO₂ for environmental benefit and the injection of that CO₂ for incremental oil or gas recovery. The best near-term opportunity for safely and economically sequestering CO₂ may lie at the original source of much of that nasty carbon, our own oilfields and coalfields.

Once cost effective techniques are developed to capture CO₂, there are significant volumes of economically recoverable oil that can be produced in conjunction with its storage. Nearly all of this resource lies in older fields, many of which are now being operated by independent producers. This article outlines the efforts underway and the estimated size of the potential "prize" that might be producible under different scenarios of technological growth and economic stimulation.

DOE Research Goal is Emission-Free Power Production
The Department of Energy's (DOE) CO₂ sequestration program, managed by the National Energy

Technology Laboratory, is comprised of two primary elements: a core R&D  program and a regional sequestration partnership program, both of which provide support for the development of FutureGen, a $1 billion industry/government partnership to design, build and operate a coal gasification-based, nearly emission-free, coal-fired electricity and hydrogen production plant.

The goal of the sequestration element of the program is to enable captured CO2 to be separated and permanently sequestered in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, unmineable coal seams, deep saline aquifers, or other formations. DOE also manages a variety of other research designed to reduce emissions (e.g., power generation equipment improvements) or to develop other means of disposal than geologic sequestration (e.g., oceanic storage).

Efforts in the core R&D program, underway since 1998, focus on technologies for carbon capture, sequestration, and storage as well as  monitoring, mitigation and verification. The regional partnership initiative, announced in November 2002, is comprised of seven partnerships of state agencies,  universities, and private companies that form a nationwide network to help determine the best approaches for capturing and permanently storing gases that can contribute to global climate change. The partnerships include 216 organizations spanning 40 states, three Indian nations, and four Canadian provinces. Geographical differences in the use of fossil fuels and the options for sequestration dictate that a regional approach is necessary. The primary purposes of the regional partnerships are to develop the framework needed to validate and potentially deploy carbon