Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the process of capturing CO2 emissions before they enter the atmosphere, transporting them and storing them permanently in deep geological reservoirs. Usually, the CO2 is captured from industrial plants with the aim of preventing the release of CO2 from heavy industry and consequently reducing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to tackle climate change. Although CO2 has been injected into geological reservoirs for several decades for multiple reasons, such as enhanced oil recovery, the concept of permanent storage is relatively new. The geophysical and petrochemical characterisation of the reservoir and the seal above will assess the feasibility of the reservoir for this purpose. Exhausted oil fields, gas fields, saline aquifers and unmineable coal seams are the main candidates due to their capability of hosting large amounts of CO2 permanently. The seal must be impermeable and stable enough to guarantee no leakage.
CCS applications will play a key role in achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), reducing emissions is not enough, as CO2 must also be removed from the atmosphere to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. CCS has been in action since 1972 in the US, where multiple natural gas plants in Texas have captured and stored more than 200M tons of CO2 underground. The US National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) stated that North America has enough storage capacity for more than 900 years’ worth of CO2 at current production rates. According to the Global CCS Institute, in 2019 there were 51 large-scale CCS facilities worldwide. The institute states that CCS is a proven technology that has been in safe operation for more than 45 years and that all its components are proven technologies that have been used for decades on a commercial scale.
The oil & gas industry can provide vital support to CCS projects due to its deep understanding and long-time experience in reservoir characterisation, drilling and injection operations. This is a great opportunity for the industry to lead the efforts in tackling global warming by applying its expertise gained in the oil & gas projects to date.
We are the only company in the world that has a services division completely focused on Directional Coiled Tubing Drilling (DCTD). DCTD has been applied successfully in CCS projects before due to its ability to:
We can maximise the benefits mentioned above for CCS applications together with its unique technology. Our continuously rotating orienter will deliver a perfect straight hole enabling more lateral reach. This will increase the reservoir contact and consequently the CO2 storage capability. It will also have a positive impact on the fatigue life of the coil with lower amounts of stress applied to the string. It is also beneficial for running a post-drilling completion in terms of running speed and ability to reach total depth.
Our proprietary real-time, at bit, synthetic porosity software, RockSense, will help deliver an optimally placed wellbore with early detection of formation boundaries, faults and fractures. This feature is particularly important in thin reservoirs because the directional driller can tell if the trajectory has hit the new formation as soon as the bit passes through it, and not after 20-30 ft as it happens with standard sensors located that far from the bit. At that point, the wellbore might be off target and already inside the formation underneath the thin reservoir.
Get in touch with us to learn more about AnTech technology and how we can make your CCS project successful.
