The Gulf Coast Carbon Center was delighted to host the first International Workshop on Offshore Geologic CO2 Storage. GCCC’s Katherine Romanak was instrumental in organizing the workshop with IEAGHG’s Tim Dixon, who is currently an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at BEG.

Dixon emphasized the value of bringing together an international contingent to discuss carbon storage in offshore reservoirs. “Over 50 experts from 13 countries came together in a common recognition that there is a nexus of interests and needs converging in progressing CCS offshore, and that momentum is being created towards international collaborations not just in knowledge-sharing but towards pilot and demonstration projects.”

 

The workshop evolved as an outgrowth of BEG’s interaction with the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum and IEAGHG. In addition, Tony Surridge from the South African National Energy Development Institute was a co-host.

The workshop made a notable historical mark as the first carbon sequestration-related effort to take advantage of the new financial instruments provided by the United Nation’s Climate Technology Centre &  Network, which provided Funding for Joseph Essandoh-Yeddu from Ghana and Felicia Mogo from Nigeria to attend.

The aim of the workshop was to develop the first global needs assessment for offshore carbon storage. Its goals included initiating a discussion about the various aspects of offshore transport and storage; building an international community of parties interested in offshore storage; and facilitating countries to identify their specific issues, challenges, and opportunities.

Topics of interest identified by the attendees included transitioning from pilot project to full-scale deployment; funding and finance; accelerating knowledge and technology transfer; regulatory development; infrastructure; and public engagement. Participants identified and defined synergies, common gaps, and goals in each of these areas, and action items, including future workshops and potential projects, were developed.

The workshop included two days of keynote addresses, presentations by individual countries, and collaborative discussion. The attendees also took part in a half day Expo that included a tour of a pilot capture facility, a visit to the Bureau of Economic Geology’s core repository, demonstrations, and a poster session.

Summarizing the importance of the workshop, GCCC’s Tip Meckel explained, “this is the first time that we’ve ever had so much international diversity and experience all sitting down with the common goal of figuring out how we can work together to make offshore CCS work. You can either dip your toe into the offshore or take a deep dive. This was a deep dive.”

 

For a complete report of the workshop, please click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GCCC is thrilled to host Tim Dixon as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow this year. When making the appointment BEG’s Director Scott Tinker recognized Tim’s “experience developing and managing CCS R&D technology transfer projects through IEAGHG workshops, status in the international CCS community, and ongoing support and collaboration with the Gulf Coast Carbon Center.”

Tim is the Manager of the Technical Programme of the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG). Part of his role is providing technical support for regulatory and policy developments for CCS. He oversees the Research Networks on Risk Assessment, Monitoring, Environmental Impacts and Social Science and related technical studies, the IEAGHG International Summer School, and provides technical input to the UNFCCC, ISO, and the London Convention.

During his tenure at IEAGHG and aided by his efforts, CCS was adopted as a climate change mitigation technology under the UNFCCC’s Clean Development Mechanism in 2011. Tim and GCCC’s Susan Hovorka serve together on the Technical Program Committee for the Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies (GHGT), the long-running and prestigious international conference on greenhouse gas mitigation technology.

One of the significant outcomes of Tim’s Fellowship at BEG will be a workshop focusing on identifying technical barriers and R&D opportunities for offshore, geologic storage of carbon dioxide. The workshop has now been scheduled for April 19-21 at the Gulf Coast Carbon Center, in partnership with the South African National Energy Development Institute and the IEAGHG and with support from the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum in Austin, Texas.

Katherine Romanak is working closely with Tim to develop the workshop. She said, “We are lucky to have Tim at GCCC. He is an internationally-recognized facilitator in the area of CCS, catalyzing technical collaboration and informing policy at high levels.”

Tim attended the university-wide CCS sponsors conference held last week in Austin. He recorded his impressions in this blog published by the IEAGHG.

Katherine Romanak and Hilary Olson are attending the historic UNFCCC COP21 meeting as representatives of both GCCC and UT Austin and are leading outreach efforts on carbon sequestration by hosting several events.

Katherine spoke at a Side Event at the COP on Dec. 1 with co-organizers CO2GeoNet, International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas Research and Development Programme, and Carbon Capture and Storage Association. The event drew a very large and enthusiastic crowd.

On behalf of GCCC and UT Austin, both Hilary and Katherine will co-host an Exhibit Booth inside the COP for the entire two-week duration of the meeting. The co-organizers are CO2GeoNet, International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas Research and Development Programme, and Carbon Capture and Storage Association.

UT Austin is also participating in a public outreach booth at the Climate Generations Areas, which is open to the public for the two-week duration of COP. Co-hosts of this booth are CO2GeoNet, Global CCS Institute, International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas Research and Development Programme, and French Club CO2.

Event organizers have already posted a recap from the Side Event
and you can check the Twitter feed #UTatCOP where Hilary will be posting up-to-the-minute news.