Preliminary Technical Agenda

Wednesday, 2 June

Session I: The Technical,Regulatory and Societal Challenges Facing the Deployment of CCS

Session Managers: Martin Jagger, Stijn Santen, Iain Wright

To accelerate the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in a safe and sustainable way, there is a need for a consensus between operator and regulator on:

• appropriate selection and qualification of well-suited sites on the basis of recognised procedures
• efficient and harmonised implementation of legal and regulatory frameworks for CCS
• an economic business model enabling a swift transition from R&D and demonstration scale projects to large scale CCS deployment

This session aims to:

• lay out the business objectives and frame the technical challenges facing large scale deployment of CCS
• to build a shared understanding of the regulatory challenges that must be addressed to enable a legal framework on CCS
• to place the technical and regulatory challenges within the perspective of societal acceptance
• to present these differing perspectives through the eyes of a major project close to realisation

Session II: Site Selection

Session Managers: Torsten Clemens, Stephan Matthai

The selection of a site for storage of CO2 is critical for the success of such projects. A multitude of different factors has to be taken into account to identify good sites. The key factors in the selection process are:

• geological aquifer/reservoir parameters: size, permeability and integrity of the caprock, formation volume and storage capacity, continuity/absence of faults, and opportunity for enhanced oil or gas recovery
• geomechanical parameters: are the formation and caprock tectonically stable? Will they be prepared for the stress conditions after large-scale injection?
• geochemistry: mineralogy promoting trapping
• anthropogenic factors: well integrity. In addition, pro’s and con’s of competing designs of storage shall be discussed: closed fixed volume storage versus leaky evolving volume storage. Saline aquifers in the latter category hold the promise of an orders of magnitude greater sequestration potential facilitated by basin hydrodynamics.

The session will tackle challenges of site selection by giving an overview of criteria that have been used thus far. The processes which have to be investigated during site selection will be discussed, including Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery as well as chemical and mechanical aspects. In addition, the specifics of aquifer storage will be covered.

Thursday, 3 June

Session III: Operational Issues

Session Managers: Hans Peter Rohner, Siegfried Vennekate

Site Operations cover, in essence, the injection field construction (injection wells, monitoring and observation wells, surface installations), the injection and the post injection/decommissioning phases.

There are too many aspects to Site Operations to cover them all in this workshop. After a brief overview to Site Operations, our workshop will focus mainly on regulatory issues, well integrity and geological storage safety, operational challenges during the injection phase and comparison to experiences in gas storage projects.

Regulatory issues specific to CO2 storage depend on the various jurisdictions (different views from operators and regulators) and if the operation takes place onshore or offshore. We will review EPA Well Classifications and European legislations and their implications for CO2 storage operations.

The main issues for wells are casing and completion materials, cements and cementing execution, well placement and thermal impacts. Wells, by nature, are a potential escape path for lighter fluids or gases such as CO2. Except for some monitoring wells, they are all drilled through the caprock or sealing formation. They need to withstand long term exposure to the corrosive nature of CO2 solutions whilst keeping their integrity against leakage and mechanical failure. We will also look at construction and well integrity monitoring techniques including well abandonment practices and differences to classic oil and gas well abandonment.

Gas storage in porous rock formation has similarities to CO2 storage although a host of new challenges (including remedial work with pressurized CO2 in wells and formation) will have to be overcome. The gas storage industry has created best practice processes and procedures and the experience gained should help to reduce the learning curve in CO2 storage substantially.

Session IV: Site Monitoring and Remediation

Session Managers: Nicolas Aimard, Reinhard Pongratz

Storage site monitoring will be a recurrent issue throughout the life time of any CO2 storage project.

First of all, the monitoring will be used to control the injection phase with an iterative process using the data in conjunction with site modelling. But it will also be used to ensure storage site integrity during and after injection. And then, it will have to be used to demonstrate to the regulator, the public and the stakeholders that there is no significant CO2 migration outside the storage site.

Session 1 has emphasized the importance of public awareness and the monitoring will play a major play in that issue. It will be critical to demonstrate that CO2 injection sites are being monitored effectively but also that remediation technology and plans are in place before any CCS project kicks off. This session will assess if we are prepared to “watch” any of those future CO2 storage sites effectively and to cover any leaks that may occur inside or outside the wellbore and in the confining zones surrounding the CO2 injection reservoirs? If not, it will define where we should put our efforts to reach this critical objective.

Friday, 4 June

Session V: The Way Forward: Lessons Learned, Items Missed, Required Breakthroughs

Session Managers: Michael Parker, Herve Quinquis, Gerhard Thonhauser

Taking the lessons learned from previous technical sessions, identifying what is still missing and outlining the breakthroughs, which will have to be achieved; this session will present the different views of key stakeholders. The session aims at identifying the critical issues to successfully implement a CO2 Geological Storage Project, especially considering safety and environmental considerations, with an emphasis on the views of the public regarding these considerations. This session will be started with reflecting within small sub-groups on available and future technology, and the impact of breakthrough technology on feasibility of projects. The opportunities to influence current public opinion considering the lessons learned during the workshop will also be investigated. The technical view and the perception by the public will be expanded by reviewing the status of Governmental regulations and identifying regulatory principles that could build public confidence in CCS. Based on the view of consumers and regulators the workshop participants will outline their strategy towards overcoming existing obstacles and defining a way forward to make the Geological Storage of CO2 an efficient and cost effective technology.

QUICK LINKS