f The ReMoVe project; Can We Guarantee Long Term Safety of Geological Storage of CO2

Since 1990, Europe and the European Commission have invested a huge amount of research in the geological storage of CO2, The aim was initially to create an inventory of potential storage sites and volumes, later to build models to study the subsurface behavior of CO2 and the storage matrix and to forecast possible problems, later still to perform risks analysis at all relevant time scales. <br><br>Since Statoil started injecting CO2 on an industrial scale off-shore Norway in 1996, the focus has shifted to the monitoring of geological storage. Over the last ten years, experience has been acquired with both large scale projects (Sleipner, Norway; Weyburn, Canada) and more limited in scope, so called “subsurface laboratories” in Germany, The Netherlands and Poland. Two new geological storage projects (In Salah, Algeria and Snøhvit, Norway) now provide the opportunity to build on this work.<br><br>The CO2ReMoVe project started on 1 March 2006. It is being carried out under the umbrella and with the support of the European Commission’s Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technology Development.<br>For five years, 30 partners from 12 different countries all over the world will invest EUR 15 million in an effort to bring together all relevant research and industry experience and know how in the field of underground storage of carbon dioxide.<br><br>The consortium of industrial, research and service organizations proposes a range of monitoring techniques, applied over an integrated portfolio of storage sites in order to develop:<br>1. methods for base-line site evaluation;<br>2. new tools for monitoring storage and possible well and surface leakage;<br>3. new tools to predict and model long term storage behavior and risks;<br>4. a rigorous risk assessment methodology for a variety of sites and time scales;<br>5. Guidelines for best practice for the industry, policy makers and regulators.<br><br>The recommendations from these international efforts will form an important step towards a worldwide consensus in licensing and certification of the storage activities in a number of geological media. These will include oil and gas reservoirs, coal seams and aquifers.<br>It can be expected that the project will achieve a better understanding with the policy makers and the public that CO2 can be safely transported and stored in the subsurface and that this storage can at all times be safely monitored. The project will also provide the assurance required for geologically stored CO2 to qualify for credits under the emissions trading mechanism.<br><br>It can be expected that the project will lead to greater understanding among policy-makers and the public that CO2 can be safely transported and stored in the subsurface, and that this storage can be safely monitored at all times the project will also provide the assurance required for geologically stored CO2 to qualify for credits under the emissions trading mechanism.<br>