2nd Offshore Workshop

​The 2nd international workshop on offshore CCS was held in Beaumont Texas, 19-20 June. This was hosted by Lamar University and the BEG, and attracted 50 attendees from 9 countries to discuss developments for offshore transport and geological storage. It build on the conclusions and recommendations from the first workshop in 2016, continued the theme of 'how to do', and had sessions on how to find storage, monitoring developments, CO₂-EOR potential offshore, and infrastructure options, with presentations from Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, South Africa and Japan. New to all attendees were presentations on the US projects looking at offshore storage in the sedimentary basins in the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and in basalts in the northern Pacific. Conclusions and recommendations were agreed, with a certain focus on infrastructure issues, these included to engage with operators of offshore infrastructure to make them aware of the opportunities from CCS and CO₂-EOR.

The workshop continued with a field trip to look at all the elements of an integrated CCS project: a large CO₂ source at the Air Products capture project in Port Arthur, CO₂transport options including Denbury's Green pipe and CO₂ hub potential, and the geology for a potential storage site offshore, all of these being in close proximity in this part of south eastern Texas. The workshop concluded with meeting local dignitaries for an appreciation of the local industrial heritage. Beaumont was the location for 'Spindletop', the first large-scale oil find in the region which prompted the Gulf Coast oil boom and creation of many famous companies such as Texaco and Gulf Oil, and the resultant high density of refineries still to this day in the area. Initial feedback from international attendees was that the combination of the workshop and such a relevant field trip was extremely interesting for all.

The workshop came about to address a recommendation from the CSLF on offshore CCS, and with great timing the previous week the US DOE had issued an opportunity for funding for an offshore CCS partnership, which will enable progress to be continued in developing offshore CCS in the USA.

IEAGHG contributed to the organisation of the workshop as chair of the International Steering Committee, and will publish the report of the workshop. Following a phrase from the 1st workshop, a 'deep dive' into offshore CCS was certainly achieved with the second.