Key Findings, Technology Gaps and the Path Forward

This chapter outlines the key findings of the Storage Monitoring and Verification (SMV) program and identifies needs for further R&D needed to support pilots, demonstration and commercial projects. The SMV program is comprised of some 30 projects organized along four technical areas that include integrity, optimization, monitoring, and risk assessment. The SMV integrity studies include characterization of naturally charged CO 2 systems, a survey of the natural gas storage industry, evaluations of reservoir and cap rock property responses to CO 2 injection and the stability of well materials in the presence of carbonated water. The SMV optimization studies sought to leverage industry experience of gas injection, identify operational parameters that ensure rapid and secure CO 2 immobilization and realize cost reduction opportunities in CO 2 capture, transportation, and injection. The SMV monitoring program evaluated a broad range of existing and novel technologies that might be used to improve the cost effectiveness and safety of geological CO 2 storage. These technologies ranged from remote detection of injected CO 2 effects on the surface to direct detection near the surface to alternatives for subsurface imaging of CO 2 movement. Risk assessment methods have long been applied to familiar hazards. The SMV risk assessment program includes a HSE perspective on handling and storage of CO 2 and other industrial materials, simulations showing the behavior of CO 2 in the vadose zone and atmosphere, strategies for early detection, intervention and remediation of CO 2 leakage and the development of two comprehensive methodologies tailored to geologic CO 2 storage.