LOTOS Petrobaltic will store CO2 under the Baltic Sea

LOTOS Petrobaltic is engaged in the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas deposits on the Polish shelf of the Baltic Sea. Earlier this year, the company launched a research and development project aimed at creating underground CO2 storage in exploited oil fields and reservoir layers under the Baltic Sea. In cooperation with 43 institutions from several countries, including the Oil and Gas Institute – National Research Institute, LOTOS Petrobaltic will carry out activities related to CO2 storage in submarine Cambrian structures, as well as analyse logistics and the regulatory environment.

The injection of 150,000 tonnes of CO2 per year into oil reservoirs in the Baltic Sea will be carried out using Water Alternating Gas technology.

Grzegorz Strzelczyk, CEO of LOTOS Petrobaltic, says: “LOTOS Petrobaltic’s activities include CO2 storage in Cambrian structures under the Baltic Sea, potential transport solutions and carbon footprint, as well as legal issues that could potentially hinder the development of CCS technology. Preparations are also underway to begin construction of an experimental micro-injection facility in the B3 and B8 oil reservoirs, where we intend to apply innovative alternating water and CO2 injection technology”.

The company has received €150,000 in pre-financing from the EU’s Horizon programme for this purpose. The project is expected to be completed within the next four years. The project, called “COREU” (CO2 Routes across Europe) and led by SINTEF (Norway), is the largest CCS project in the history of the Horizon programme.

It is worth mentioning that LOTOS Petrobaltic actively participated in the legislative work on CO2 sequestration regulations, related to the amendment of the Geological and Mining Law, which entered into force on 28 October 2023. A team of experts has also developed a set of recommendations for changes in executive regulations that will facilitate the launch of large-scale commercial CCS projects in Poland.

The technical and economic documentation necessary for the implementation of the R&D project of the CO2 micro-injection facility into B3 or B8 oil reservoirs is currently being prepared. This will be a facility for transporting and receiving CO2 on the LOTOS Petrobaltic platform and injecting it into the selected reservoir using WAG (Water Alternating Gas Injection) technology. The documentation is expected to be completed by the middle of this year. Based on this, a decision will be made to commission a test micro-injection facility with a capacity of 150,000 tonnes of CO2 per year in one of the two Baltic Sea oil fields operated by LOTOS Petrobaltic.

In cooperation with the Oil and Gas Institute – National Research Institute, the possibility of injecting CO2 into the reservoir rock where oil and gas deposits have been discovered will also be investigated. The sequestration potential of the aquifer in the economic zone of the Polish part of the Baltic Sea will be determined and the issue of reduced permeability due to salt precipitation during CO2 injection will be analysed. The effect of carbon dioxide on the geomechanical parameters of rocks in a potential CO2 storage area will also be studied. In addition, the effect of CO2 on the corrosion of steel pipelines during carbon dioxide transport will be investigated.

Preliminary estimates by the scientific units indicate that the Baltic Sea may have a CO2 storage potential in the order of several hundred million tonnes.