Advancing Ability, Acceptance, and Implementation for CO2 Storage in the Southeastern US and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico

An estimated 40% of U.S. anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are being generated in the southeastern US, much generated within 100 km of the coastline. Thus, the southeastern US and the eastern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) are attractive targets for development and implementation of CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). The Department of Energy (DOE) has invested in several projects that explore the potential and practicality of CCUS in the southeastern US and eastern GOM, including the Southeast Regional Carbon Storage Partnership: Offshore Gulf of Mexico (SECARB Offshore) project and the Southeast Regional Carbon Utilization & Storage Partnership: SECARB-USA (SEBARB-USA) project. These projects support DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Managements mission to help the United States meet its need for secure, affordable, and environmentally sound fossil energy supplies. The SECARB Offshore project team has been assembling the knowledge base required for secure, long-term, large-scale CO2 subsea storage in the GOM with or without CO2 enhanced hydrocarbon recovery (CO2-EOR). To date, the project team has confirmed that the the storage potential in Cretaceous and Tertiary reservoirs in the eastern GOM is vast (e.g., ~1,000 Mt potential storage in the DeSoto Canyon Salt Basin alone). There is significant infrastructure already in place, as well as abundant stacked saline formations and depleted oil and gas reservoirs in the eastern GOM, making it an attractive prospect. Moving forward, part of the project team will be focused on education and outreach to facilitate engagement with stakeholders, with the efforts tailored for specific stakeholders. The SECARB-USA project team is continuing to identify and address knowledge gaps beyond the advancements made by the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership Initiative, with the primary objective of identifying and addressing regional onshore storage and transport challenges facing commercial deployment of CCUS technologies. Recent efforts have focused on identifying data needs and associated costs for development of new CCUS projects in the southeastern US.