ADVANCING ABILITY AND ACCEPTANCE FOR POTENTIAL SUBSEA CO2 STORAGE IN THE EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO

The potential and practicality of offshore geologic carbon dioxide (CO₂) subsea storage is being explored through a Department of Energy (DOE) supported project entitled “Southeast Regional Carbon Storage Partnership: Offshore Gulf of Mexico” (SECARB Offshore). SECARB Offshore supports the DOE’s long-term objective to ensure a comprehensive assessment of the potential to implement offshore CO₂ subsea storage in all Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program Planning areas in the GOM.

As an estimated 40% of U.S. anthropogenic CO₂ emissions are generated in the southeast, with a large portion of these emissions generated within 100 km of the coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is a prime target for this type of storage. The project team has been assembling the knowledge base required for secure, long-term, large-scale CO₂ subsea storage in the GOM with or without CO₂ enhanced hydrocarbon recovery (CO₂-EOR). The project team has confirmed that the storage potential in Cretaceous and Tertiary reservoirs in the eastern GOM is vast (e.g., ~1,000 Mt potential storage in the DeSoto Canyon Salt Basin alone). With the significant infrastructure already in place, abundant stacked saline formations, and depleted oil and gas reservoirs, the eastern GOM is an attractive prospect. However, offshore subsea CO₂ storage has different challenges with respect to project development; monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA); and outreach as compared to onshore CO₂ storage.

Thus, a significant effort moving forward will be surrounding education and outreach to facilitate engagement with stakeholders in potential CO₂ storage in the offshore GOM. Such materials will describe the potential for CO₂ storage in the offshore GOM, highlight the environmental and economic benefits that could accrue to the Gulf Coast region in pursuing this potential, characterize the risks associated with this pursuit, and document how offshore CO₂ storage is currently being pursued effectively globally. The efforts need to be tailored for specific stakeholders – for example, commercial and recreational fishing industries may have different concerns than government officials – to be effective.