A New Risk Management Methodology for Large-Scale CO2 Storage: Application to the Fort Nelson Carbon Capture and Storage Project
In order to move the carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry forward and assure stakeholders that the geologic storage of CO2 can be done safely and reliably, it should be demonstrated that the risks associated with a specific CCS project can be consistently identified, treated, and monitored throughout the life of that CCS project. The management of potential risks that may be incurred from the long-term effects of storing large amounts of CO2 in a particular geological formation starts with proper site selection, followed by a more rigorous risk-based examination of the site, including consideration of the uncertainty of the storage capacity and injectivity in relatively unevaluated, noncommercial deep saline formations.Although some large-scale enhanced oil recovery projects such as Weyburn use CO2, apart from a few existing large-scale operations such as Sleipner and In Salah, to date, very few projects designed specifically for CO2 storage have reached the commercial scale necessary to validate CCS as a viable technology. In that respect, with an anticipated storage volume of 1.3 to 2 Mt/yr of CO2, the proposed Fort Nelson CCS project operated by Spectra Energy is among the most promising industrial-scale CCS projects being considered in North America. As demonstration to local and federal governments that the sour CO2 can be safely injected and stored on the long term is important, the Fort Nelson CCS project presents an opportunity for the implementation of a comprehensive risk management approach. This abstract describes the application of an original, CCS-specific risk management methodology to the subsurface technical risks of the Fort Nelson CCS project:" Phase 1: Establishment of a risk management policy utilizing input from key project stakeholders to help define a project-specific metric system (frequencies, physical consequences, severities) for the estimation of technical risks." PhaView/Download Document
Event/Meeting Information
10th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Technologies (GHGT-10)
9/23/2010
Amsterdam,