STORAGE CATALOGUE OF GERMANY – SPEICHER-KATASTER DEUTSCHLAND

Reservoir and barrier rocks play a key role for many types of utilization of the deeper subsurface in Germany, e.g. the exploitation of hydrocarbons, underground gas storage, extraction of geothermal energy for heating and power generation, and the disposal of brines. Within the last decade, the permanent storage of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers developed as an additional utilization option, driven by the need to reduce anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and thus mitigate climate change.

In Germany, the three largest sedimentary basins Norddeutsches Becken, Molassebecken and Oberrheingraben are characterized by the widespread abundance of good reservoir and barrier rocks. Based on regional studies within these basins, the volumetric CO₂ storage capacity in saline aquifer structures is calculated to 6.3 to 12.8 Gt. However, the influence of large-scale CO₂ storage projects will not be limited to the storage site only, but the change in reservoir pressure will have regional impact. Therefore also the sealing efficiency of the associated barrier rocks need to be investigated on a regional scale.

In order to account for different utilization options including CO₂ storage, a nationwide systematic and reliable overview on the storage potential of the deeper subsurface in Germany is necessary. In order to provide a first step, the project Storage Catalogue of Germany (Speicher-Kataster Deutschland) was carried out from 2008 until 2011 as cooperation between the state geological surveys of Germany and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR).

As result of this project, we present an information system on major Permian and Mesozoic reservoir and barrier rock units. This includes the categorization of 19 reservoir and barrier rock units based on depth and thickness criteria, the discussion of their reservoir and retention properties, and the implementation of information on already existing exploration data (e.g. wells and seismic data). The categorization maps and the information on already existing data are included in a GIS-based map application (see also the contribution of Riesenberg et al.), while more detailed information on e.g. reservoir and retention properties are available in reports.