Offshore Projects

Offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects assess the offshore storage potential and address technology needs that are specific to the offshore environment. Offshore CCS offers additional carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage opportunities and may prove to be easier than the onshore storage of CO₂ in geologic formations. In addition, it may also offer a CCS alternative for regions with limited onshore potential.

current DOE/NETL offshore CO2 storage resource assessment efforts

Research is needed to characterize offshore storage potential; validate modeling, simulation, and monitoring tools for offshore geologic storage; inform international and domestic regulatory development; and address technical gaps and technology needs (e.g., monitoring, modeling, and simulation) specific to the offshore environment.

NITEC, LLC, is providing quantitative estimates of CO2 volumes that may be stored in Federal offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM) depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs. This field-by-field assessment is ranking fields relative to prospective size (in terms of original oil or gas in place) and utilizing publicly available data to assess original and current in-situ field pore and fluid volumes and estimate CO2 storage volume ranges

Assessment of potential offshore carbon storage complex provides information needed for the selection of sites for future field laboratories. Current research projects are working with industry, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and state geologic surveys to collect additional data on key potential storage complexes offshore of the U.S. east coast and the Gulf of Mexico. The projects are utilizing existing geologic and geophysical data (e.g., well logs, records and sample descriptions from existing or plugged/abandoned wells, available seismic surveys, existing core samples) to conduct a Prospective Storage Resource assessment of the reservoirs. In addition, these projects involve 3D flow and geomechanical modeling, as well as the identification of sites with the potential to store at least 30 million metric tons (MMT) of CO₂.

Differences in the offshore and onshore environments lead to differences in characterization and monitoring, verification, accounting (MVA) and assessment technologies, which need to be further evaluated for offshore applications. In addition, offshore infrastructure, technology, and CO₂ storage reservoir properties can vary considerably; thus, MVA efforts should be designed to meet site-specific needs.

More information on Offshore Projects can be found on the Carbon Storage Project Portfolio Page under “Characterization Field Projects (Onshore and Offshore).”