CO2 Transport and Storage
Why is it important?
In the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, CO2 transport and storage infrastructure underpins the widespread deployment of carbon capture, including carbon dioxide removal via direct air capture with storage and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.
Where do we need to go?
With growing plans to equip facilities with CO2 capture, a gap is starting to emerge between anticipated demand for CO2 storage and the pace of development of storage facilities. In the absence of further efforts to accelerate CO2 storage development, through government or private-sector exploration, the availability of CO2 storage could become a bottleneck to CCUS deployment.
What are the challenges?
A growing number of projects are choosing to focus either on CO2 capture or on CO2 transport and storage. A “part-chain” approach can reduce commercial risks and promote efficiencies but relies on close coordination and alignment in the development of each element of the CCUS value chain.
Tracking CO2 Transport and storage
Transport and storage infrastructure for CO2 is the backbone of the carbon management industry. Planned capacities for CO2 transport and storage surged dramatically in the past year, with more than 370 Mt CO2 of new annual storage capacity announced since January 2022, with similar capacities for connecting infrastructure. Based on the existing project pipeline, dedicated CO2 storage capacity could reach over 420 Mt CO2/yr by 2030, causing the balance between dedicated CO2 storage supply and the planned demand based on capture capacities for 2030 to level globally. This is a positive outlook for the CCUS industry, signalling strengthened market conditions driven primarily by policy implementation and co-ordinated alignment of the CCUS value chain by operators. However, this is insufficient to meet the around 1 200 Mt CO2/yr by 2030 called for in the Net Zero Emissions (NZE) Scenario.
Development in major regions has advanced significantly since 2022, and some countries have announced first-ever projects
Countries and regions making notable progress include:
- The North Sea region has made prominent progress to advance CO2 infrastructure with over 30 new transport and/or storage projects in development since 2022. Projects aim to connect clusters of capture facilities from cement, hydrogen, and industrial plants along the shores of continental Europe with storage locations in the North Sea. Notably, the pilot phase of Project Greensand in Denmark became operational in March 2023, with a first shipment of liquid CO2 from Belgium to a depleted oil field in the Danish North Sea for storage.
- Japan issued a CCUS roadmap in January 2023, setting an annual CO2 storage target of 6-12 Mt CO2 per year for 2030 and 120-140 Mt CO2/yr for 2050. In June 2023, seven CCUS hubs were selected for funding by JOGMEG.
- The European Commission proposed the Net Zero Industry Act in March 2023, setting an annual CO2 injection target of 50 Mt CO2/yr for 2030. The Act proposes improved permitting procedures for key net zero mitigation technologies, including CCUS.
- The United States continues to increase CO2 storage capacity with a near doubling in new announcements in 2022 compared to 2021. There are currently around 9 500 km of CO2 pipelines in operation, the vast majority of which (92%) are in the United States.
- The Asia-Pacific region has seen rising commitment towards CO2 infrastructure, including project announcements from China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand for the first time ever, and further expansion of the CO2 management industry in Japan, Korea and Indonesia.
Status of CO2 storage infrastructure in development vs. planned capture capacity by region, 2023
OpenDedicated CO2 storage capacity is matching capture plans as infrastructure-specific announcements surge
Historical storage capacity has been largely tracking capture capacity since 1996 and the first injection at the Sleipner field of 1 Mt CO2/yr. Today, global capture and storage capacity both culminate at just over 45 Mt CO2/yr, with a minor discrepancy between the two that is attributed to CO2 utilisation.
Over the past year, there has been a large acceleration of CO2 management infrastructure development within the CCUS landscape. The total planned capacity for CO2 storage has more than doubled since January 2022. Consequently, assuming all announced projects are completed in full and on time, the anticipated global storage capacity of CO2 (including storage through enhanced oil recovery, [EOR]) will be greater than the announced annual capture capacity by 2030 based on currently available data, with variations seen across regions. However, efforts must continue to increase on both CO2 capture and CO2 storage across all regions to address the gap observed between planned capacities and the global target outlined in the NZE scenario for 2030.
A monumental shift from CO2-EOR towards dedicated CO2 storage in the near future signals strengthened action towards net zero commitments
Today, just over 10 MtCO2/yr of captured CO2 is injected for dedicated storage within 9 commercial-scale sites, but based on the project pipeline dedicated storage capacity could increase to around 345 MtCO2/yr by 2030. The substantial shift away from CO2-EOR (from around three-quarters of capacity today to just over 10% of capacity in 2030) towards dedicated storage is driven by a combination of factors, including regulatory requirements for the incentivisation of CO2 storage development (such as in Canada), and the critical role of CCUS in facilitating the transition to net zero for certain economies (e.g. Norway, the United States, and the United Kingdom)
Operating and planned CO2 storage facilities by storage type as of 2023
OpenPioneering shipment of CO2 for dedicated storage in Europe paves way for future CO2 shipping ventures
Shipping of CO2 for the purpose of geological storage made a landmark achievement in early 2023. The pilot phase of Project Greensand in Denmark pioneered CO2 shipment with the first volumes of liquid CO2 transported from Belgium and injected into a field in the Danish North Sea for storage. Similarly to pipelines, a CO2 shipping service creates connectivity for industries looking to decarbonise but located far from viable storage assets. Other examples of shipping projects in development include:
- Chevron and Mitsui O.S.K Lines established an agreement in 2022 to investigate the feasibility of transporting CO2 from Singapore to storage locations offshore in Australia. This complements a memorandum of understanding signed between Singapore and Australia, as well as a recently announced industrial consortium to explore CCUS solutions in Singapore.
- The NoordKaap project will ship CO2 collected from European emitters in Germany, Scandinavia, Belgium and northern France for storage in the Norwegian North Sea and offshore in the Netherlands. The first storage licence application has been submitted to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for approval.
- Japanese energy companies plan to join the Bayu-Undan CCS project in Australia looking to transport CO2 via shipping from Japan for offshore storage in the Timor Sea.
Feedbacks between CO2 capture and infrastructure capacities can sustain an efficient balance between CO2 supply and storage demand
Multi-user CO2 transport and storage infrastructure is becoming a mainstream business model in the CCUS landscape with the emergence of new players. Now that at around 14 500 km of pipelines are under development globally – with far more expected, as many announced infrastructure projects have not disclosed planned pipeline length – under-used CO2 infrastructure capacity is available in some regions. Depending on location, this can enable a greater number of small-scale emitters to consider CO2 capture a feasible option to decarbonise their operations. Examples of major pipeline networks run by specialist operators where this may be possible include:
- The 240 km Alberta Carbon Trunk Line in Canada, operated by Wolf Midstream since 2020, has a design capacity of around 15 Mt CO2/yr and aims to connect more facilities in the future, even though it currently transports less than 2 Mt CO2/year from two sources.
- In continental Europe, multiple cross-border infrastructure projects are being developed to access storage resources in the North Sea. The latest announcement from March 2023 includes a major open-access CO2 transmission network jointly proposed by Wintershall Dea and Fluxys to connect industrial clusters in Germany to Belgium’s Zeebrugge Port. The pipeline’s capacity is expected to be 30 Mt CO2/yr. There will be an onshore carbon transit grid that will serve as a collection point at the Zeebrugge port to facilitate onwards transport for storage in the North Sea by the offshore Belgium-Norway Trunk line. This joint venture between Equinor and Fluxys, announced in June 2022, will reach 40 Mt CO2/year at maximum capacity.
A growing number of diverse projects for CO2 transport and storage, as well as innovative monitoring techniques, are being piloted around the world
New monitoring techniques can ensure the safe and effective roll-out of CO2 storage
Monitoring, measurement and verification technologies continue to be developed. In Denmark, a new first-of-a-kind buoy will in 2023 be subject to final tests conducted by Resen Waves as part of Project Greensand. The device utilises renewable wave energy to collect and transfer CO2 storage data remotely to operations on land. This offshore monitoring method could reduce costs and avoid occupational injuries associated with offshore surveying activities.
Growing diversity in demonstration of unconventional storage resources
CO2 mineral storage involves using highly reactive mafic rocks to sequester CO2 is also being increasingly developed. In January 2023, 44.01 announced a new collaboration with ADNOC and other partners to launch a commercial scale pilot project in the United Arab Emirates to inject CO2 into peridotites, a type of rock that contains a high proportion of reactive minerals to CO2. Moving forward, more demonstration projects are needed to assess whether these resources can store CO2 at commercial volumes.
New tanker design for next generation commercial CO2 carriers
The food and beverage industry is currently the main shipper of CO2 and usually transports it at medium pressure (13 to 18 bar and -30°C to -28°C) as users have no need to move high volumes and do not require large cargos. In Japan, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, launched the construction of a demonstration ship designed for CCUS initiatives in March 2023. In Europe, the Hunter Group and DNV entered a joint agreement in 2023 to design a 40 000 – 70 000 cubic metre vessel to be available for CO2 transportation in European waters.
Government support for CO2 transport and storage infrastructure is growing
Countries and regions have recognised the importance and urgency of developing CO2 transport and storage infrastructure. A number of countries have recently enacted policies:
- At the federal level, Canada’s Budget 2022 details a CCUS Tax Credit of 37.5% for eligible transport, storage and use equipment. In addition, the federal government opened an expression of interest in January 2023 for CO2 transport and storage R&D projects. At the provincial level, in November 2022 25 proposals were selected to work with Alberta Energy to begin the evaluation of their pore space.
- The Connecting Europe Facility-Energy (CEF-E) is a funding instrument to help implement large-scale cross-border energy infrastructure in the European Union. From the lists of Projects of Common Interest (PCI), three CCUS hubs were awarded EUR 160 million in 2022 through CEF-E. Under recently revised regulations, five cross-border CO2 transport and storage projects have applied for the status of Project of Mutual Interest connecting the European Union with four non-EU countries. Successful projects will be announced in November 2023.
- In the United Kingdom, the North Sea Transit Authority awarded 20 CO2 storage licences to 12 companies as part of the UK’s first-ever licensing round. Once in operation, the new storage sites will contribute to storing up to 30 Mt CO2 by 2030, around 10% of the country’s annual emissions.
- Facilitated by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Department of Energy in the United States announced more than USD 90 million for 11 large-scale CO2 storage projects awarded under the “CarbonSAFE Phase II” funding opportunity in 2023. In addition, the United States also announced more than USD 2 billion in funding towards projects eligible under CarbonSAFE Phase III and IV for site characterisation, permitting and construction.
View all CO2 transport and storage policies
We would like to thank the following external reviewers:
- Tim Dixon, Technology Collaboration Programme on Greenhouse Gas R&D/IEAGHG, Reviewer
- Nicola Clarke, Technology Collaboration Programme on Greenhouse Gas R&D/IEAGHG, Reviewer
- Jasmin Kemper, Technology Collaboration Programme on Greenhouse Gas R&D/IEAGHG, Reviewer
- Iain Macdonald, Shell, Reviewer
- Rachael Moore, CO2 Management Solutions, Reviewer
- Stuart Haszeldine, University of Edinburgh, Reviewer
Recommendations
CO2 storage resources and their development
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies are an important solution for the decarbonisation of the global energy system as it proceeds down the path to net zero emissions. CCUS can contribute to the decarbonisation of the industrial and power generation sectors, and can also unlock technology-based carbon dioxide (CO2) removal. However, its successful deployment hinges on the availability of CO2 storage. For widespread CCUS deployment to occur, CO2 storage infrastructure needs to develop at the same speed or faster than CO2 capture facilities.
Authors and contributors
Lead authors
Carl Greenfield
Flowra Zhang
Contributors
Sara Budinis
Mathilde Fajardy
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