SNS CCS Assessment

Project Summary

Geoscientific study using a play based exploration approach to identify and critically evaluate prospective levels and sweet spots for CO2 storage in East Midlands Shelf and Silverpit Basin.
A fully risked and ranked prospect and lead inventory based on geology and geophysics will be produced and a set of criteria will be built for common risk segment analysis.

OUTCOMES

Several sites across the UKCS have been proposed for use as storage facilities by a variety of industrial and academic consortia some of which have been motivated by imminent decommissioning rather than geological evaluation of their suitability for long-term CO2 storage. The impact and industry value of this project is in understanding the fundamental geological enablers of CO2 disposal, specifically in relation to the SNS.
An estimated value can be assignd by recognising that the main impact of the project is in laying foundations for detailed assessment of as-yet-unknown future CCS projects. Using a conservative value proposition that, by identifying the natural gas fields in the Permian Leman Sandstone Formation (the geologically safest sites for CCS in the SNS), the project will lead to identification of 5% of 2050’s CO2 storage requirement which gives an estimated future value of £450mm (based on the 2019 Committee on Climate Change Net Zero – Technical report, stating that the UK’s Carbon captured and stored in 2050 will be 180 million tons and assuming a return of £50/t to dispose of CO2).