EOR REPURPOSING.

In order for CCS to deliver a lasting benefit to the climate, the vast majority of sequestered CO2 must remain underground permanently. Geological formations proposed are sub-seabed and saline aquifers. The IEA says that depleted oil and gas reservoirs would be the most likely candidates for initial storage operations because of both their geology and proximity to industrial development.

The problem with IEA’s assertion is it is too convenient for expanding CO2-EOR operations. In addition, the multiple bore holes and wells drilled in them to find and extract oil and gas further increase the risk of leakage. The IEA also admits that, “[t] he long-term storage integrity of oil fields that have been exploited with multiple wells has yet to receive serious scientific investigation.”108

The prominent Sleipner project, a CCS storage testing site off the coast of Norway injecting CO2 scrubbed from raw gas after extraction, was found in 2012 to have many nearby fractures, warranting increased expense toward surveying the geology of such sites.109 Some scientists say it’s not a matter of if the site will leak, it’s just a question of when.110 Researchers devoted to the promise of CCS remain unconcerned.111

However, undue confidence in understanding of the geology at Sleipner is not new.112 While offshore injection may be easier for the public to accept, deepsea sites will be more difficult to monitor. There are few studies to ascertain potential effects of undersea CO2 leakage, but scientists have concluded that it may be detrimental across the ocean food web.113 CO2 leakage from sequestration could exacerbate already rising ocean acidification, since the ocean absorbs about 25% of anthropogenic CO2 pollution. This is threatening a different type of planetary disaster altogether.114