Abstract
The potential and practicality of offshore geologic carbon dioxide (CO2)
subsea storage is being explored through a Department of Energy (DOE)
supported project entitled “Southeast Regional Carbon Storage
Partnership: Offshore Gulf of Mexico” (SECARB Offshore). SECARB
Offshore supports the DOE’s long-term objective to ensure a
comprehensive assessment of the potential to implement offshore CO2
subsea storage in all Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program Planning areas in
the GOM. As an estimated 40% of U.S. anthropogenic CO2 emissions are
generated in the southeast, with a large portion of these emissions
generated within 100 km of the coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico
(GOM) is a prime target for this type of storage. The project team has
been assembling the knowledge base required for secure, long-term,
large-scale CO2 subsea storage in the GOM with or without CO2 enhanced
hydrocarbon recovery (CO2-EOR). The project team has confirmed that the
storage potential in Cretaceous and Tertiary reservoirs in the eastern
GOM is vast (e.g., ~1,000 Mt potential storage in the
DeSoto Canyon Salt Basin alone). With the significant infrastructure
already in place, abundant stacked saline formations, and depleted oil
and gas reservoirs, the eastern GOM is an attractive prospect. However,
offshore subsea CO2 storage has different challenges with respect to
project development; monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA); and
outreach as compared to onshore CO2 storage. Thus, a significant effort
moving forward will be surrounding education and outreach to facilitate
engagement with stakeholders in potential CO2 storage in the offshore
GOM. Such materials will describe the potential for CO2 storage in the
offshore GOM, highlight the environmental and economic benefits that
could accrue to the Gulf Coast region in pursuing this potential,
characterize the risks associated with this pursuit, and document how
offshore CO2 storage is currently being pursued effectively globally.
The efforts need to be tailored for specific stakeholders – for
example, commercial and recreational fishing industries may have
different concerns than government officials – to be effective.