Resource maturity and sensitivity analysis of CO2 storage capacity in the Lusitanian basin, Portugal

Abstract

The relevance of technological solutions as Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) have been increasing with the expectation to play a fundamental role in the next decades to mitigate CO2 emissions in Europe and worldwide, essentially those associated to the industrial sectors. Under the scope of the ongoing STRATEGY CCUS project, this work comprises a feasibility study in the Lusitanian basin, a Portuguese promising region with a large potential for CO2 storage, applied to seventeen storage units: thirteen offshore and four onshore. Different methods are presented for a storage resource assessment, including the Boston Square Analysis (BSA) and a four-tiered storage capacity pyramid. The last method aimed to determine critical CO2 storage parameters, namely injectivity and storage capacity, under a stochastic framework with the application of Monte Carlo simulations and a sensitivity analysis of reservoir petrophysical properties. The results from BSA allowed the identification of main gaps and strengths for all storage units in the Lusitanian basin. In addition, the total storage capacity of this basin is about 3.12 Gt CO2, based on stochastic modelling approach, although most the deep saline aquifers were classified as theoretical resources and therefore further characterisation studies must be conducted to increase their maturation level.