EPSRC Project: CONTAIN - The impaCt of hydrOcarbon depletioN on the Treatment of cAprocks within performance assessment for CO2 InjectioN schemes

The UK is committed to meeting stringent carbon dioxide emission targets over the next 35 years. One potentially valuable technology in achieving this target is the development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies, where carbon dioxide is captured during power generation and, instead of being released into the atmosphere, is injected into porous rocks underground. Porous rocks, such as sandstone, can act as a 'reservoir' for CO2, which can potentially be stored at depth over long periods of time and kept isolated from the rocks above by a much less porous 'caprock'. The UK has a large 'porosity resource', currently estimated to be of sufficient capacity to store the necessary 2-5 billion tonnes of CO2 to meet 2050 CO2 emission targets. It has been estimated that up to 9 billion tonnes of UK storage capacity come from reservoirs that previously contained hydrocarbons, which have been extracted by the oil and gas industry. This form of CO2 storage has a number of benefits, as the rocks are generally well characterised and there may be pre-existing infrastructure (such as pipelines) suitable for adaption to CO2 injection. However, the process of hydrocarbon extraction, or 'depletion', can significantly impact both the reservoir involved and the surrounding rocks. These activities can potentially cause deformation, movement on faults and/or damage to infrastructure. However, the long term impacts of these activities, particularly when the reservoir is 're-inflated' during injection of CO2, are not well understood and there is limited physical data for specific rock types and scenarios. In order for depleted reservoirs to become a viable national resource, these uncertainties must be addressed. As such, this project is focussed on providing a better understanding of the impact of depletion and reinflation on reservoir and caprock material. It will involve a combined approach, using both laboratory experiments and computer simulation to improve our understanding of this aspect of storage site behaviour. The project seeks to address this key area with a focussed programme of work that will generate a much-needed and unique data-set, new modelling tools and a fuller understanding of the processes involved. The findings will inform regulators and aid operators in reducing the financial and environmental risks of CCS, for depleted storage sites, making the technology more likely to happen. In addition, work will be carried out to examine effective communication with the public, relating to this new technology. Social acceptability represents a major potential barrier to CCS developments, as indicated by protests and moratoria in several countries. It is therefore critical to understand public attitudes and the bases of concern about CCS, and work as effectively as possible to improve understanding and engagement. Work within this project will explore the factors that determine public and stakeholder understanding and acceptability of CCS storage proposals. The lessons and knowledge derived from this work will be summarised in an outreach and engagement toolkit, which will be disseminated to regulators, operators and communication specialists. Grant number: EP/K036025/1.

Date (Creation): 2013-10

Citation identifier: http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13606789

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	enquiries@bgs.ac.uk	Distributor
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	enquiries@bgs.ac.uk	Point of contact
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	enquiries@bgs.ac.uk	Principal investigator

Maintenance and update frequency: notApplicable

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Geology

BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences

Carbon capture and storage
UKCCS
NGDC Deposited Data

dataCentre

Keywords

NERC_DDC

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: intellectualPropertyRights

Other constraints: Either : (i) the dataset has not been formally approved by BGS for access and use by external clients under license; and / or (ii) the dataset contains 3rd party data or information obtained by BGS under terms and conditions that must be consulted before the dataset can be provided to, or accessed by, BGS staff or external clients. Refer to the BGS staff member responsible for the creation of the dataset if further advice is required. He / she should be familiar with the composition of the dataset, particularly with regard to 3rd party IPR contained in it, and any resultant access restrictions. This staff member should revert to the IPR Section (IPR@bgs.ac.uk) for advice, should the position not be clear.

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.

Other constraints: Either: (i) the dataset is made freely available, e.g. via the Internet, for a restricted category of use (e.g. educational use only); or (ii) the dataset has not been formally approved by BGS for access and use by external clients under licence, but its use may be permitted under alternative formal arrangements; or (iii) the dataset contains 3rd party data or information obtained by BGS under terms and conditions that must be consulted in order to determine the permitted usage of the dataset. Refer to the BGS staff member responsible for the creation of the dataset if further advice is required. He / she should be familiar with the composition of the dataset, particularly with regard to 3rd party IPR contained in it, and any resultant use restrictions. This staff member should revert to the IPR Section ( ipr@bgs.ac.uk) for advice, should the position not be clear.

Language: English

Topic category

Geoscientific information

Begin date: 2013-10 After

End date: 2017-09 Before

Supplemental Information: EPSRC Grant number: EP/K036025/1

Reference System Information

No information provided.

Distribution format

Name	Version

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	enquiries@bgs.ac.uk	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
HTTP	http://www.bgs.ac.uk/	BGS Homepage

Hierarchy level: Non geographic dataset

Other: non geographic dataset

Conformance result

Title: INSPIRE Implementing rules laying down technical arrangements for the interoperability and harmonisation of Geology

Date (Publication): 2011

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Pass: No

Conformance result

Title: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services