About carbon storage

What is carbon storage?

Carbon storage (also known as geosequestration) is part of a portfolio of solutions being investigated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The process involves the deep geological storage of CO₂ from major industrial sources that would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere.

Many of the technologies used in carbon capture and storage (CCS) are well developed and have been used for decades by the petroleum industry. Experience with geological storage projects across the world has also shown that CO₂ can be stored securely with a very low risk of migration and leakage.

What is now being investigated is the use of CCS for capturing and storing industrial emissions at a large scale that is also commercially viable.

Industrial sources of CO₂

• Coal-fired power stations
• Oil & natural gas processing
• Cement manufacture
• Fertiliser manufacture
• Iron & steel manufacture
• Petrochemical industry

The CCS process

The CCS process involves:

• capturing and separating CO₂ from industrial emissions
• compressing CO₂ gas into a liquid form
• transporting CO₂ along a pipeline to a suitable storage site
• injecting CO₂ deep underground into secure geological formations for long-term storage. Suitable geological formations are typically areas of porous rock lying beneath thick layers of impermeable rock. The spaces in the porous rock trap the CO₂, while the thick layers act as a ‘cap rock’ to create a seal. Depleted oil and gas fields generally offer excellent potential as storage sites.