PNNL

Abstract

The authors have collected available data on 332 candidate geologic reservoirs (at the basin and sub-basin scale) in the United States and Canada, and have developed and employed a methodology for estimating the effective storage capacities of deep saline formations, enhanced oil recovery plays, gas reservoirs, and coal basins. Results indicate a large and variably distributed North American storage capacity of at least 3,800 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GtCO2), with deep saline formations accounting for the majority of this capacity. The authors also have refined a geospatial and techno-economic database of 2,115 anthropogenic CO2 point sources in North America each with annual emissions greater than 100,000 tonnes of CO2. By computing a series of pairwise cost-minimizing decisions for these CO2 sources and potential geological sinks, we were able to calculate a CO2 storage cost curve for North America that includes the cost of transporting CO2 from the plant gate to a selected storage reservoir, the cost of injecting it into the underground formation, and, as appropriate, the offsetting revenue associated with any resulting enhanced hydrocarbon recovery, yielding a classic, positively sloping supply curve. The paper also examines sensitivities for this storage cost curve centered on: high/low oil and gas prices, the maximum allowed distance between source and reservoir, and for storage in value-added reservoirs, the requirement to carry infrastructure associated with CO2-driven hydrocarbon recovery.