New IEAGHG Technical Report: 2022-11 Applying ISO Standards to Geologic Storage and EOR Projects

This study, undertaken by DNV on behalf of IEAGHG, aimed to summarise and synthesise the two ISO Standards relevant to the geological storage of CO₂: – ISO 27914:2017 ('Carbon dioxide capture, transportation and geological storage - Geological storage') and ISO 27916:2019 ('Carbon dioxide capture, transportation and geological storage - Carbon dioxide storage using enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR)') – to provide a high-level understanding of the content into an easily digestible format. By comparison with international regulatory frameworks, and providing case studies of how applicable the standards are to real CO₂ storage projects, the study provides a comprehensive overview and concludes on the usefulness of the documents in supporting the implementation of CCUS projects.

The report concluded that:

• Both standards relevant to the geological storage of CO₂, ISO 27914 and ISO 27916, are complementary with minimal overlap, as was intended by stakeholders.
• ISO 27914 is intended for projects with the sole purpose of CO₂ storage:
  • The objective being 'to commercial, safe, long-term containment of carbon dioxide in geological systems in a way that minimises risk to the environment, natural resources, and human health'.
• ISO 27916 is intended to apply to CO₂-EOR projects:
  • With the objective of promoting 'the use of geologic storage associated with CO₂-EOR by providing a common process for assuring safe, long-term containment and for quantifying and documenting the amount of CO₂ that is stored in association with CO₂-EOR'.
• Both standards can be used to evaluate and guide key technical areas of storage projects, including site feasibility, well re-qualification and developing risk-based monitoring and verification programmes.
• Both standards provide limited specific support for requirements related to approval processes, ownership, government roles, subsurface ownership regime, and transport.
• Both standards support (in general) CO₂ stream definition, leakage accounting, MMV, storage and siting, closure, public engagement and risk assessments.
• Elements of ISO 27914 can provide guidance for CO₂-EOR projects, even though it is not explicitly intended for such use.
• There is a similarity between regulatory regimes for oil and gas projects and CO₂ storage projects and therefore existing petroleum regimes, complemented by the ISO standards, could be combined to form a specific regulatory regime for the geological storage of CO₂.
• Five examples are provided from developing economies with an oil and gas industry to show that regulations pertinent to CO₂ storage are either established or require refinement from pre-existing oil and gas regulations or need to be fully developed.
• The ISO standards are an evolving entity and subject to refinement and continuous updating where deemed necessary (ISO operate a 5-year review cycle on all published standards). Some experts have recognised that ISO standard 27914:2017 may be difficult to implement for real projects due to the large number of requirements, and suggest this standard could be seen as more of a best practice guide.