Meed | Adnoc spuds first well at carbon storage reservoir

Adnoc spuds first well at carbon storage reservoir

11 May 2023

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has spudding the first well in its project to develop an underground carbonate saline aquifer that would store carbon dioxide (CO2) from its operations.

Adnoc Group first announced the project in January this year when it said that the project will initially fully sequester a minimum of 18,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of CO2 captured from Fertiglobe’s UAE operations for injection in Abu Dhabi’s onshore carbonate aquifer. The project was expected to begin injecting CO2 in the second quarter of the year, Adnoc said at the time.

Adnoc defines a carbonate saline aquifer reservoir as “an underground storage system made of rock which we seek to use to permanently store CO2.”

“In a world first, we are deploying a fully sequestered CO2 injection well in such an aquifer to safely trap the CO2,” it added.

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The CO2 well injection project builds on Adnoc’s experience of operating its Al-Reyadah facility since 2016, which has the capacity to capture up to 800,000 t/y of CO2.

It will also support Adnoc’s carbon capture and storage programme, which is among the new projects and initiatives the company is advancing following the establishment of a new Low Carbon Solutions & International Growth business.

Adnoc has also allocated a budget of $15bn for projects to decarbonise its operations, which include investments in clean power, carbon capture and storage (CCS), further electrification of its operations, energy efficiency and new measures to build on Adnoc’s zero routine gas flaring policy.

The carbon storage project is in line with Adnoc’s commitment to decarbonise its operations, reduce its carbon intensity by 25 per cent by 2030, and deliver on its net-zero by 2050 ambition. Adnoc, in November last year, also announced setting an Upstream Methane Intensity target of 0.15 per cent by 2025.