Geological Characterization of the Hydraulically-Connected Bunter Sandstone Formation Saline Aquifer in the Southern North Sea

Abstract

Summary The Bunter Sandstone Formation in the Southern North Sea is an important potential CO2 storage reservoir and is likely to form an integral part of the UK’s carbon capture and storage ambition for industrial clusters in northeast England. In this study, a geological model is developed for the Bunter Sandstone Connected Aquifer in the Southern North Sea. This region is structurally-bound by large faults and salt features that are thought to compartmentalise it from surrounding Bunter Sandstone aquifer(s). Notable features of the Bunter Sandstone Connected Aquifer include a seismic polarity reversal in the top Bunter Sandstone horizon, and the ‘seabed outcrop’, a location at which the Bunter Sandstone subcrops a thin Quaternary sequence. Several storage sites have been identified within the Bunter Sandstone Connected Aquifer, and this model will provide an opportunity to assess regional pressurization, geomechanical modelling and estimates of CO2 storage capacity in the context of injection at multiple locations.