Permitting Issues for CO₂ Capture and Geological Storage

Publication Overview

The capture and storage of CO₂ in geological formations is a promising technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Such projects will involve very large investments in plant, pipelines, wells and reservoir development. As with most large undertakings it will be essential to obtain permits for a whole range of activities which have to be carried out in order to implement such projects. Obtaining permits has been a major constraint on the rapid deployment of many new technologies and can cause considerable delay and effort even when implementing proven systems. To ensure that CO₂ capture and storage can be deployed successfully in the required timescales any issues that may arise during permitting of CO₂ capture and storage projects need to be identified as early as possible and permitting procedures developed and agreed. This study was commissioned to provide an overview of permitting issues in CCS projects and provide some guidance to operators and regulators who are concerned with the technology.

Publication Summary

Major effort is required to formulate an effective permitting regime for the subsurface aspects of CCS. It seems likely that initial requirements will tend to be over stringent and extensive until experience has been built up. In contrast existing regulations cover all the above ground aspects of CCS activities well but when applied may raise a few issues for which minor adaptations and interpretations will be required. Australia is well advanced in tackling the development of a permitting regime to enable CCS and some lessons can be learnt from their experience. However there are some good regulations and practices in other jurisdictions which are well worth studying and sharing when developing and applying permitting systems to CCS projects.