Criteria and workflow for selecting saline formations for carbon storage

Abstract

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an essential greenhouse gas mitigation strategy. Consolidating CO₂ sources and sinks can enable the widespread adoption of CCS, and the success of hub-scale projects depends on finding an appropriate sequestration complex. This work developed a criteria-driven framework to assess the potential suitability of saline formations for carbon storage. The workflow uses a three-stage process that screens, ranks, and characterizes potential saline storage formations based on three categories: (1) capacity and injectivity optimization, (2) retention and geomechanical risk minimization, and (3) siting and economic constraints. In this framework, data confidence has been incorporated into site ranking, which provides the user with information about the degree of uncertainty associated with the evaluation. The methodology can be applied to sites in various geological and geographical environments and incorporates general and project-specific criteria. This quantitative, criteria-driven approach was applied to two areas of interest in the Gulf of Mexico, and one site was identified for further assessment. In addition, this workflow was applied to four existing CCS projects— Sleipner, IBDP, In Salah, and Snøhvit—to see how they would have scored and ranked pre-development.