CO2 point sources and subsurface storage capacities for CO2 in auifers in Norway

Abstract

The GESTCO (GEological STorage of CO2) from fossil fuel combustion project comprises a study of the distribution and coincidence of thermal CO2 emission sources and location\/quality of geological storage capacity in Europe. The GESTCO project is a joint research project conducted by 8 national geological surveys and several industry partners\/end users, partly funded by the European Union 5th Framework Programme for Research and Developmen. Four of the most promising types of geological storage are being studied: 1) onshore\/offshore saline aquifers with or without lateral seal, 2) low entalpy geothermal reservoirs, 3) deep methane-bearing coal beds and abandoned coal and salt mines, and 4) exhausted or near hydrocarbon structures. In this report, we present an inventory of CO2 point sources in Norway (1999) and the results of the work within Study Area C: deep saline aquifers offshore\/near shore Northern and Central Norway. Also offshore\/nearshore Southern Norway has been included, while the Barents Sea is not described in any detail. The most detailed studies are on the Tilje and Åre Formations, on the Trøndelag Platform off Western Mid-Norway, and on the Sognefjord, fensfjord and Krossfjord Formations, southeast of the Troll Field off Western Norway. The Tilje Formation has been chosen as one of the cases to be studied in greater detail (numerical modeling) in the project. This report shows that offshore Norway, there are concentrations of large CO2 point sources in Haltenbanken, the Northern Viking Graben\/Tampen Spur area, the Southern Viking Graben and the Central Trough, while onshore Norway there are concentrations of point sources in the Oslofjord\/Porsgrunn area, along the coast of western Norway, and in Trøndelag. A number of aquifers with large theoretical CO2 storage potential are pointed out in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and in the Southern Barents Sea.