In Salah CCS Project

The In Salah CCS Project is a a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in a gas-producing field in Algeria. In Salah Gas (ISG), a joint venture between Sonatrach, BP and Statoil, produces approximately nine billion cubic metres of gas a year for export from the Krechba field.

CCS
Statoil states that at the Krechba Central Processing Facility "the carbon dioxide content of the gas is reduced from between 5% and 10% to 0.3 %" and injected via three horizontal wells into the Brebacha field. "At the same time, the reservoir is drained by five producers located above the gas-water contact. Since start up in 2004, more than 2.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide have been injected. Injection will continue at a rate of approximately one million tonnes annually, facilitating storage of some 14-17 million tonnes in total."

Safety
On its website, Statoil argues that in the case of its Sleipner Carbon Capture and Storage project in Norway injection into a water bearing formation "requires geological studies to confirm the quality of the seal" while in "a hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir" such as at In Salah "the presence of hydrocarbons is an indication that the cap rock can contain gases for millions of years. The Krechba seal consists of 900 metres of Visean shale that has contained the natural gas for 200 million years."

While Statoil claims that "the risk of CO2 leaking through the geological seal is seen as exceedingly small" it noted that "in June 2007 an ISG well-monitoring team discovered minor amounts of CO2 migrating to the surface through the annulus of an old exploration well (Kb-5). The well was killed and stabilised, and is currently being permanently plugged and cemented using CO2 resistant material."

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Carbon Capture and Storage demonstration projects worldwide
 * Carbon Capture and Storage in Algeria