North Sea sandstone could unlock carbon capture and storage
The British Geological Survey (BGS) says the UK must examine less-studied areas to store 170Mt of CO2 a year by 2050.
Estimates suggest the total theoretical storage capacity exceeds 70Bt.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) injects captured CO2 into suitable rock formations, usually below 800m deep.
Geologists at the BGS are studying the Central North Sea to determine its suitability to store CO2 from major industrial sources.
The BGS says this area accounts for around 60% of the UK's estimated CO2 storage cpacity.
The UK Government's Clean Growth Strategy aims to store at least 50Mt of CO2 a year by 2030, increasing to 170Mt a year by 2050.
The North Sea Transition Authority, which regulates the storage of CO2, launching its first competitive licensing round in 2022, with a second round announced in 2025.
The BGS says that multiple sequences of stacked Palaeogene sandstone units represent a vast potential CO2 storage resource, with more than 10Bt of theoretical capacity – approximately one quarter of the basin’s total regional storage capacity. These sandstones were deposited 40-64mln years ago in deep-water marine fan systems.
The BGS notes a few key considerations before large-scale storage can proceed, due to the complex stacked and interdigitated nature of the sandstone bodies.
Decades of oil and gas exploration have generated a wealth of subsurface data, highlights BGS, including drill core that is curated in BGS’s National Geological Repository.
Drilling core is expensive, it says, costing as much as £20-30mln for a single offshore borehole, so the ability to access pre-drilled material is invaluable, both in terms of avoided drilling costs and time saved.
Rock core material from the study region showing grey claystones of the Lista Formation grading into light brown sandstones of the Mey Sandstone Member, which is one of the potential reservoirs for CO2 storage
© BGS © UKRI.Alongside this archived material, BGS has also developed an integrated subsurface database and interpretations comprising existing 3D seismic and well data, and a stratigraphical framework to ensure accurate regional interpretation.
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