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RESERVED CO₂EOR Accounting JK

1 October 2016
Policy & Regulation
Storage

The report attempts to review issues associated with greenhouse gas emissions accounting where anthropogenic carbon dioxide is captured and used for enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR) in conjunction with long-term geological storage of CO₂. Whilst this suggests a fairly narrow scope of research, it in fact opens up several lines of complex enquiry, requiring a strong understanding of global oil production, trade, supply and demand. This is a topic to which countless hours of debate and consideration are made on an ongoing basis, generally without any clear consensus in respect of matters such as ‘peak oil’, ‘carbon lock-in’ and fossil fuel ‘demand destruction’. It is also a topic that is highly political, with oil being at the heart of economic activity and life-style behaviour. As such, the analysis presented herein has required some simplifying assumptions in order to provide limits to the discussions presented. This has been carried out to the best of the authors’ capacity, commensurate with the time and resources available for the study. The report does not claim to provide a definitive view on how to resolve issues of greenhouse gas emissions accounting for CO₂- EOR, but rather provides a source of ideas on how to establish a framework for considering the issues at hand, and food for thought in respect of further discussion and debate.

Technical Report

Regional assessment of the economic barriers to carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery in the North Sea, Russia and GCC States

1 October 2016
Storage

The objective of this study is to explore the economic conditions that would be necessary for a CO2 EOR project in the North Sea and in the Middle East. Traditional oil production can recover up to 20-40% of the original oil in place (OOIP). The application of an EOR technique, typically performed towards what is normally perceived to be the end of the life of an oilfield, can increase the cumulative recovery by an additional 5-15%. The investment decision for a CO2 EOR project hinges on key factors relating to geological site suitability, capital and operational costs. A number of identified success factors for the well-established CO2 EOR industry in the U.S. are listed below:   <ul> <li>Depth and oil composition can enable CO2 to form miscibility lowering viscosity</li> <li>There is sufficient unrecovered oil after primary and secondary recovery (usually water flooding)</li> <li>There is sufficient access to a reliable supply of CO2</li> <li>Operator knowledge and experience can be applied</li> <li>Tax incentives to promote profitable implementation</li> </ul>

Technical Report

Fault Permeability

1 October 2016
Storage

The present review adds to an earlier report (IEAGHG, 2015a) by using the published literature to examine how fault permeability is modified by fault zone and host rock properties and in situ stresses of anthropogenic or geological origins. The primary goal of the report is to use publically available literature to examine when, where and how faults may negatively or positively impact the storage and migration of injected CO2. In particular, four key tasks have been undertaken and are outlined below. TASK 1 - Provide a brief summary of the key parameters that influence the mechanical and hydraulic properties of fault zones including a summary of CO2 flow data along faults at natural seeps. TASK 2 - Review current oil industry practices that are used to assess and control the unwanted migration of hydrocarbons along faults. Use the experience of different industry/academic teams to assess and model fault leakage from potential CO2 storage sites. TASK 3 - Review the approaches used by other industries (e.g. waste disposal, hydrocarbons, civil engineering) to assess the properties, permeabilities, and leakage thresholds of faults and examine how these approaches might be useful for CO2 storage sites. TASK 4 - Identify the knowledge gaps in current understanding of fluid migration along faults. Identify the challenges in modelling fault permeability, and monitoring fluid migration (including CO2), along and across faults. Recommend the direction of future research and development that is directly related to a better understanding of fault permeability. The principal objective of this report is to provide a review and synthesis of international research and current understanding of fault permeability, with emphasis on how it could influence (positively or negatively) CO2 storage. To address this principal aim and the four key tasks outlined above, the report contains 10 main sections. These main sections are summarized below.

Technical Report

PCC Process Control

1 September 2016
Capture

The study focuses on performing an evaluation of process control strategies for normal, flexible and upset operation conditions of CO2 post-combustion capture (PCC) processes based on solvent scrubbing. PCC is currently the leading near-term technology for large-scale deployment of CO2 capture in the power generation sector.

Technical Report

4th CCS Cost Network Meeting

1 August 2016
Costs of CCUS
Event Proceedings

The purpose of the workshop is to share and discuss the most currently available information on the cost of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in electric utility and other industrial applications, as well as the current outlook for future CCS costs and deployment. The workshop also seeks to identify key issues or topics related to CCS costs that merit further discussion and study.

Technical Report

RMNER Network Meeting

1 June 2016
Event Proceedings
Storage

The three day meeting included themes on risk assessment methodologies, risk communication and mitigation strategies as well as environmental research. There was an emphasis on potential impacts of CO2 in marine environments, natural variability and the unscheduled release of CO2 from pipelines. Coverage also included formation fluid release, overburden features, international initiatives and environmental impact assessments notably the Peterhead – Goldeneye project.

Technical Report

Can CO₂ Capture and Storage Unlock 'Unburnable Carbon'?

1 May 2016
Capture
Storage

This study has undertaken an initial assessment on the relevance of CCS in terms of the unburnable carbon issues. This consisted of the following tasks: <ol> <li>Undertake a comprehensive literature review to identify and assess those studies done to date which are relevant to, include or comment upon the role of CCS in the issues of unburnable carbon.</li> <li>Assess the assumptions, methodologies, any contentious subjects, and understand differences in these studies.</li> <li>Identify and assess sources of information on the global potential for CCS deployment, including storage potential.</li> <li>Potential issues that would contribute to better understanding and assessment of this topic (which are of a technical nature and thus IEAGHG could address), will be identified and recommendations made for further work, including whether any work is necessary relating to global storage capacity and CCS global potential.</li> </ol>

Technical Report

CO₂ impurities

1 April 2016
Industry Insights

The main objectives of the report are to: Review the CO₂ impurities that could be present from different CO₂ capture technologies and develop twelve CO₂ impurity scenario compositions for further analysis; Evaluate these impurity scenarios for CO₂ physical and transport properties. The properties that are investigated are the dew point, bubble point, melting point, density, Joule-Thomson coefficients, speed of sound, viscosity and thermal conductivity. Evaluate the effects of the impurities on CO₂ compression and liquefaction in terms of performance and energy requirements; Identify the effects of the impurities on the operating conditions for both pipeline and ship based transportation; Evaluate the effect of the impurities on the selection of materials for pipeline and ship transportation.

Technical Report

Summary of IEAGHG/CSLF Workshop on LCA in CCUS London 12-13 November 2015

1 March 2016
Event Proceedings

A workshop on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) was held in London, UK, 12th and 13th November 2015, hosted by IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG) and the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF). The workshop built on the IEAGHG report 2010/TR2 and review work by the CSLF. The workshop looked at the state-of-the art of LCA for CCUS in terms of goals and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation as well as social LCA and Life Cycle Costing (LCC).

Technical Report

Operational Flexibility of CO₂ Transport and Storage

1 March 2016
Storage
Transport

This study has reviewed different transport and storage scenarios to reflect the range of full-scale commercial operations. In addition to a wide ranging literature review a survey of industrial, utility, pipeline and CO2-EOR operators was also conducted to obtain their insights of CO2 transport and storage. Owing to the sensitivity of these commercial operations it has not been possible to attribute background information to either individuals or their companies. Anonymity has not prevented the inclusion of real world data on exhaust gas composition from different sources including power generation (coal and natural gas), oil refining, gas processing, cement, hydrogen production, and ethanol production. It also includes background information on actual CO2 pipeline operation, including network hubs, and CO2 CO2-EOR experience in the United States. Experience from different industrial scale injection projects such as Sleipner, Snøhvit and In Salah, has been included. The study has investigated how flexible operation affects CO2 storage and the measures adopted to accommodate intermittent supply. There are a series of prioritized recommendations based on the gaps in knowledge.

Technical Report

Social Research Network 2015

1 January 2016
Event Proceedings
Public Perception

This work looked into adopting a place-based approach to better understand responses of the public to the siting of projects involving low-carbon technologies. The research examined public reactions to an offshore wind farm, a power line proposal and a tidal energy project in the UK. Theorising the concept of ‘place’ has two aspects to it – a place as a locus of attachment/identity and a place as a centre of meaning. With the latter, these meanings are not fixed and people have different thoughts or feelings about them. ‘Place attachment’ describes the emotional bonds between people and particular environments (which can be attachment or non-attachment), where ‘place identity’ refers to the ways in which places reflect and maintain identities for individuals or groups. This work argues the value of capturing place attachments and their related meanings to explain local responses to siting of infrastructure proposals, but notes that each in isolation is insufficient to explain why. It was felt that there is value in conducting and comparing multiple case studies across contexts and sectors to further examine the influence of place on consumers.

Technical Report

Monitoring Network Meeting

1 December 2015
Event Proceedings
Storage

The 45 presentations and 17 posters covered a range of topics, with sessions on cost-effective monitoring of large projects, permit requirements, induced seismicity, shallow monitoring, geophysical monitoring and CO₂ relationships, pressure monitoring applications, monitoring tools for shallow, surface and deep monitoring, update on projects, and post-closure monitoring. As well as the new results and developments, new at this meeting was a group-work exercise created by Sue Hovorka of the University of Texas. This involved the groups designing monitoring plans for fictional but realistic storage sites, and then these being actually tested with leakage scenarios.

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