oa Assessment of the geology of deep saline aquifers and its feasibility for CO2 storage in the Arabian Peninsula

Carbon dioxide gas (CO2) is a natural component of the Earth’s atmosphere and has been present throughout most geological times. However, since the industrial revolution, the concentration has risen by about a third (from 280 to 370 parts per million) and may well reach at least twice the pre-industrial level by 2100. Many scientists believe that this increase will lead to global warming of 2.0° C or more, stimulating climate change and severe weather conditions. One way to combat climate change is to stabilize CO2 concentrations gradually in the atmosphere at or below 550 parts per million: An enormous challenge! The combustion of fossil fuels emits an estimated 23 Gtonnes of CO2 annually. If captured and stored, in combination with the other mitigation<br>measures (e.g. energy efficiency and renewable energy), it would significantly help the goal of reducing these emissions. Deep, highly saline aquifers have the potential to provide very large storage capacity worldwide. Recent studies suggested that the storage capacity in geological reservoirs in northwest Europe alone could be as high as 800 Gtonne CO2. There are a number of places where these aquifers have been used as buffer reservoirs for natural gas, giving confidence that CO2 could be stored safely for thousands of years in carefully selected reservoirs. CO2 injection in many of these aquifers will partly dissolve in the saline water and/or be trapped in the pores. Research activities are underway in Europe and Australia to map and assess the storage capacity of offshore salt-water reservoirs, while similar research in Canada and the USA is looking at onshore salt-water reservoirs. On the other hand, limited information on the geological formations of the Middle East deep saline aquifers has been published. The aim of this presentation is to show the latest database of deep saline aquifers in Arabian Gulf area and to identify potential ones for CO2 storage.