In 2008, the Dutch operators’ association NOGEPA and the Ministry of Economic Affairs investigated the potential for CO2 capture and storage in depleted Dutch North Sea fields.
Dutch research institute TNO, which worked on this program, has also been involved in a follow-up (Phase 2) study to assess the likely capital and operational costs. The study will focus solely on the offshore facilities that will be needed, including new long-distance subsea trunk lines to take CO2 from the ports of IJmuiden and Rotterdam to the depleted reservoirs.
To estimate these costs with a sufficient degree of accuracy involved detailing out both the design and route of the trunklines, and the mothballing/modification works affecting the main platforms and their offshore satellites.
K and L blocks map shows gas fields with theoretical storage capacity per field cluster (source: TNO).
In order to model the future CO2 program, TNO calculated examples for the injection profiles for two sets of gas fields. Currently, work on the offshore CO2 storage development is directed at fields in the K and L quadrant blocks, as these represent about 90% of the total estimated storage capacity.
Among the main conclusions of the initial (Phase 1) study:
- Total theoretical storage capacity is 1,566 million tons (1,420 million metric tons) of CO2, in 153 fields
- Effective storage capacity (not including fields already abandoned) is 918 million tons (833 million metric tons) of CO2
- Based on their design specifications, most existing wells appear suited to CO2 injection in terms of rating and materials
- Operators of the platforms and pipeline do not see technical barriers of conversion for CO2 transport and injection.
