Underground storage of carbon dioxide

To prevent recovered carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, it must be disposed of or stored. It is important to have more knowledge about the CO₂ storage capacity, the global distribution of the capacity and the costs of storing CO₂. The potential storage capacity in natural gas fields is estimated at 600 to 1500 Gtonnes carbon dioxide and in oil fields at 200 to 400 Gtonnes carbon dioxide. If a structural trap is required the storage capacity in aquifers is about 200 Gtonne of carbon dioxide. If a structural trap is not required the storage potential might be up to several tens of thousands. The costs of carbon dioxide storage depend on the depth, the size and location of the reservoir and the flow rate at the well. Storage costs in onshore aquifers are calculated to be typically between 2 and 8 US$ per tonne of carbon dioxide. In a large onshore natural gas field the storage costs will be 0.5 to 3 US$ per tonne of carbon dioxide. Storage costs for offshore reservoirs are typically 50% higher.