Meeting the challenges of large-scale carbon storage and hydrogen production

Abstract

There is a pressing need to rapidly, and massively, scale up negative carbon strategies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS). At the same time, large-scale CCS can enable ramp-up of large-scale hydrogen production, a key component of decarbonized energy systems. We argue here that the safest, and most practical strategy for dramatically increasing CO 2 storage in the subsurface is to focus on regions where there are multiple partially depleted oil and gas reservoirs. Many of these reservoirs have adequate storage capacity, are geologically and hydrodynamically well understood and are less prone to injection-induced seismicity than saline aquifers. Once a CO 2 storage facility is up and running, it can be used to store CO 2 from multiple sources. Integration of CCS with hydrogen production appears to be an economically viable strategy for dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, particularly in oil- and gas-producing countries where there are numerous depleted reservoirs that are potentially suitable for large-scale carbon storage.