The case for underground CO2 sequestration in northern Europe

Abstract: In northern Europe numerous industrial point sources of CO 2 surround the North Sea Basin, which contains a number of viable underground sequestration opportunities. Th e include injection into depleted oil and gas fields and into major egional aquifers; the latter probably offer-ing the greatest ultimate storage potential. At the Sleipner gas field, CO 2 is being injected into the Utsira Sand, a large saline aquifer. More than 6Mr of CO 2 have currently been injected, with a pro-jected final target of about 20Mt. Time-lapse seismic reflection data are being used to monitor the operation and have provided clear images of the CO 2 plume and its development with time. Moreover, CO 2 volumetrics derived from the seismic data are consistent with the well injection figures. In conjunction with reservoir simulation studies, time-lapse seismic monitoring seems, therefore, to offer an effective means of predicting the future growth, migration and dispersion of the CO 2 plume. Another important aquifer, the Bunter Sandstone, stretches from Britain to Poland. In the UK sector alone, the pore volume in structural closures is equivalent to about 350 years' worth of current CO 2 emissions from UK power generation. Industrial CO 2 sources in northern Europe are well placed to exploit these major subsurface reservoirs and European countries are technically very well equipped to use and evelop this emerging technology