CO₂ Migration in the Overburden
- 1 August 2017
- Storage
This report documents the subsurface processes that may enable CO₂ to potentially migrate from the storage reservoir to within the overburden sequence. The potential rates of migration for each migration pathway and the implications for leakage are discussed. Secondary trapping mechanisms within the overburden are also discussed within the report. The conclusions are focused on tying overburden characteristics to their impact on developing risk assessments. As well as specific pathway structures, five CO₂ storage projects were selected for this review and the characteristics of the overburden sequence that promote trapping and hinder migration at each site are a summarised. The projects chosen were the offshore Sleipner and Snøhvit CO₂ storage projects, the planned storage site in the Goldeneye Field, the onshore Ketzin pilot CO₂ injection project in Germany and the Field Research Station in Canada.