CO₂ seal bypass (COPASS)

Storage of CO₂ is considered an important way of mitigating the global climate challenge, and the Norwegian North Sea areas may give room for a central storage for Northern Europe. In this context, COPASS targets CO₂ injected into sandstones in the subsurface that will flow out from the well and into the porous rocks along certain paths. The project will analyse these flow paths. We have started to examine CO₂ reservoirs that have been exhumed to the surface in Utah (USA), and combine this information with nearby sites where natural CO₂ is currently leaking out. The learnings will improve our understanding of CO₂ behaviour in sandstones that are found at depths of 1000–2000 meters in the subsurface. The project started in 2015 and has several US and Norwegian partners. Our goal is to make models that predict how CO₂ moves and, only valid for some cases, if and how CO₂ could escape the reservoir and drift up in the overlying rock succession. The gained insight will give valuable input to North Sea projects where possible new CO₂ storage sites are evaluated.