Darshan Sachde, Katherine Dombrowski, Joe Lundeen, Trimeric Corporation; Darrell Davis, Independent Consultant
The Gulf of Mexico Partnership for Offshore Carbon Storage (GoMCarb) is focused on the assessment of offshore (sub-seafloor) geologic carbon storage beneath the Gulf of Mexico to facilitate carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the region. Specifically, the GoMCarb team is focused on the Western Gulf of Mexico (off of the Texas and Louisiana coastlines). This region has both a significant concentration of CO₂ sources onshore and favorable geology offshore for CO₂ storage, as identified and characterized by GoMCarb partnership team members. Therefore, an important aspect of the GoMCarb partnership scope is evaluation of the infrastructure required to transport CO₂ safely and reliably from the onshore sources to the offshore storage site and inject the CO₂ into the storage reservoir.
As the Gulf of Mexico has an extensive history of oil and gas production, there are still active and inactive/abandoned oil and gas assets throughout the Gulf of Mexico. When oil and gas production is complete or when these assets reach the end of their useful life, the infrastructure represents a potential liability or cost for oil and gas producers and/or government agencies charged with regulating the decommissioning of the infrastructure. Furthermore, as these assets approach end-of-use in oil and gas production, the incentive for the owner/operator of the asset to maintain the infrastructure and/or associated technical data and information associated with the asset diminishes. Therefore, as opportunities for offshore CO₂ storage are identified, there is potential for mutual benefit (i.e., re-use of oil and gas infrastructure in CCS) and also urgency to prepare for the possibility of re-use in advance of the infrastructure reaching end-of-use in oil and gas production.
This presentation will not cover all technical aspects of infrastructure re-use or characterization as this is very site- and project-specific. Rather, the presentation will provide a high-level review of pipelines, platforms, and wells in the Western Gulf of Mexico, identify important characteristics of infrastructure for re-use and potential opportunities for re-use, discuss obstacles to re-use (technical and otherwise), and identify potential paths forward and needs for offshore CCS to leverage the existing oil and gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico.