This poster on the UKCCSRC Call 1 project, North Sea aquifer mapping, was presented at the Cranfield Biannual, 22.04.15. Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-30.

The IEA (International Energy Agency) Weyburn Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Monitoring and Storage Project has analysed the effects of a miscible CO2 flood into a carbonate reservoir rock at an onshore Canadian oilfield. Anthropogenic CO2 is being injected as part of an enhanced oil recovery operation. The European research was aimed at analysing longterm migration pathways of CO2 and the effects of CO2 on the hydrochemical and mineralogical properties of the reservoir rock. This report is a synthesis of the principal findings of the European research effort and an assessment of how successfully the project objectives have been met. http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/3682/.

Full proposal cover sheet for scientific drilling (852-CPP) 'GlaciStore: Understanding Late Cenozoic glaciation and basin processes for the development of secure large-scale offshore CO2 storage (North Sea)', submitted to Integrated Ocean Discovery Programme (IODP) April 2014. The full proposal cover sheet document is publicly available from IODP; the submitted full proposal document is restricted to the proponents for publication and for review and response from IODP. The lead submitter, on behalf to the GlaciStore consortium is Heather Stewart, British Geological Survey (BGS).The 30 proponents are from research and industry organisations in the UK, Norway and USA (BGS, Institute for Energy Technology, Lundin Norway AS, SINTEF Energy Research, Statoil ASA, University of Bergen, University of Edinburgh, University of Oslo and University of Texas at Austin). The full proposal cover sheet states the names of proponents of the ‘GlaciStore’ consortium and contact details for the lead submitter of the bid. The full proposal cover sheet comprises: an abstract of the submitted full proposal including description of project funding support as a Complementary Project Proposal: describes and states the scientific research objectives; summarises proposed non-standard measurements; tabulates details of the 13 proposed drill sites (revised from pre-proposal stage) to address the scientific objectives. The objectives are to investigate: glacial history and sedimentary architecture; fluid flow and microbial processes in shallow sediments; and the stress history and geomechanical models for strata that have experienced multiple glacial and interglacial cycles. The table of proposed drilling sites includes the co-ordinates of the position and water depth at each proposed site, the objective for drilling and sampling and the depth to achieve the objective. The proponents, their affiliation, expertise and role for the submission are listed. UKCCSRC Grant UKCCSRC-C1-30.

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.

Full proposal for scientific drilling (852-CPP) 'GlaciStore: Understanding Late Cenozoic glaciation and basin processes for the development of secure large-scale offshore CO2 storage (North Sea)', submitted to Integrated Ocean Discovery Programme (IODP) April 2014. The proponent 'GlaciStore' consortium comprises research and industry organisations from the UK and Norway. The full proposal describes the relationship of the proposed research with the IODP science plan, regional background and previous work, and describes and illustrates three scientific objectives. The objectives are to investigate: glacial history and sedimentary architecture: fluid flow and microbial processes in shallow sediments; and the stress history and geomechanical models for strata that have experienced multiple glacial and interglacial cycles. The drilling and sampling strategy, standard drilling and logging operations, and the specialist measurements expected to be taken are described. Related initiatives and wider context of the proposed research also the initial and planned strategy for support from industry and government are outlined. The lead submitter, on behalf to the GlaciStore consortium is Heather Stewart, British Geological Survey (BGS).The 30 proponents from the UK and Norway (BGS, Institute for Energy Technology, Lundin Norway AS, SINTEF Energy Research, Statoil ASA, University of Bergen, University of Edinburgh and University of Oslo) and their expertise are listed. The full proposal is a pdf format file. This is restricted to the proponents for publication and to progress to a revised full proposal accepted for drilling by IODP. UKCCSRC Grant UKCCSRC-C1-30.

This is THE first CO2 storage publication produced in the UK. The Association of the Coal Producers of the European Community are agreed that immediate action is required to reduce the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Harrison, 1990). This is considered necessary even though the effect of these gases on global climate and the human race, are very uncertain mainly because the factors and processes affecting climatic change are poorly understood. http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/511485/

The data consists of a spreadsheet containing gas column height, CO2 content and estimated retained buoyancy pressures for Southern North Sea gas fields, based on published information. The data were obtained from published field records and papers on behalf of the 'Fault seal controls on CO2 storage capacity in aquifers' project funded by the UKCCS Research Centre, grant number UKCCSRC-C1-14.

This presentation on the EPSRC project, DiSECCS, was presented at the Cranfield Biannual, 8.04.13. Grant number: Grant number: EP/K035878/1.

Revised full proposal cover sheet for scientific drilling (852-CPP2) 'GlaciStore: Understanding Pleistocene glaciation and basin processes and their impact on fluid migration pathways (North Sea)', submitted to Integrated Ocean Discovery Programme (IODP) April 2016. The full proposal cover sheet document is publicly available from IODP; the submitted full proposal document is restricted to the proponents for publication and for review and response from IODP. The proposal is a revision of full proposal 852-CPP in response to review by IODP. The lead submitter, on behalf to the GlaciStore consortium is Heather Stewart, British Geological Survey (BGS).The 32 proponents are from research and industry organisations in the UK, Norway, USA and Canada (BGS, Institute for Energy Technology, Lundin Norway AS, Memorial University of Newfoundland, SINTEF Energy Research, Statoil ASA, University of Bergen, University of Edinburgh, University of Oslo and University of Ottawa University of Texas at Austin). The revised full proposal cover sheet states the names of proponents of the 'GlaciStore' consortium and details for the lead submitter of the bid. The full proposal cover sheet comprises: an abstract of the submitted full proposal including description of project funding support as a Complementary Project Proposal: describes and states the scientific research objectives; summarises proposed non-standard measurements; tabulates details of the 13 proposed drill sites (revised from full proposal CPP-852) to address the scientific objectives. The objectives are to investigate: glacial history and sedimentary architecture; fluid flow and microbial processes in shallow sediments; and the stress history and geomechanical models for strata that have experienced multiple glacial and interglacial cycles. The table of revised proposed drilling sites includes designation of primary or alternate sites, the co-ordinates of the position and water depth at each proposed site, the objective for drilling and sampling and the depth to achieve the objective. The proponents, their affiliation, expertise and role for the submission are listed. UKCCSRC Grant UKCCSRC-C1-30.

This poster on the UKCCSRC Call 1 project Fault Seal Controls on Aquifer CO2 Storage Capacity was presented at the CSLF Call project poster reception, London, 27.06.16. Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-14. Structural traps for storage of supercritical CO2 will commonly rely on a component of fault seal. Faults are among the most important natural potential migration pathways for buoyant fluids stored in reservoir rocks. Failure of storage integrity may occur either by mechanical failure or by flow across faults due to geometric juxtaposition of the reservoir against similarly permeable rocks and/or lack of a low permeability fault gouge. This project aimed to reduce uncertainty relating to the sealing capacity of faults affecting prospective North Sea saline aquifers, by: • Studying the controls on fault seal capability in naturally-occurring fault-bound CO2 accumulations (Fizzy and Oak), • Assessing the geomechanical stability of faults affecting an important saline aquifer offshore UK (Captain Sandstone), • Investigating the characteristics of apparently hydraulically-conductive faults in the North Sea (Netherlands).