Geological CO2 Storage Capacity in Aquifers in Saudi Arabia
Description
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is crucial for Saudi Arabia's net-zero goal by 2060. The provided data provide an estimate of CO2 storage capacities in Saudi Arabia's sedimentary basins, incorporating data from public sources. We assessed 17 basins for CO2 storage in deep saline aquifers. Eastern basins, including Eastern Arabian Basin and Interior Homocline-Central Arch, are most suitable, while Western Saudi Arabia has fewer favorable basins, except Umm Luj, Yanbu, and Jeddah basins. The adopted methodology to estimate the potential capacity corresponds to the “effective storage capacities”, as outlined by the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF). These estimates take into consideration technical, geological, and engineering constraints. However, to obtain a practical storage capacity estimate, it is essential to incorporate societal, economic, and regulatory factors that are not considered in this work. Therefore, further research is necessary, including prospect-level evaluations that involve drilling, testing evaluation, and monitoring wells. The details are published in “Evaluation of Geological CO2 Storage Potential in Saudi Arabian Sedimentary Basins”, Earth-Science Reviews, by Jing Ye, Abdulkader Afifi, Feras Rowaihy, Guillaume Baby, Arlette De Santiago, Alexandros Tasianas, Ali Hamieh, Aytaj Khodayeva, Mohammed Juaied, Timothy Meckel, Hussein Hoteit* *Corresponding author: hussein.hoteit@kaust.edu.sa