The USA National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) proudly published thefrstCarbonSequestrationAtlas oftheUnitedStatesandCanadain 2007, and in 2012, the fourth version waspublished.Thelatestversion (The North American Carbon Storage Atlas 2012) includes also Mexico and identifes the potential CO2 geological storagecapacityin North America. Theconservative estimatesof theCO2storage capacity is 136 Giga tons(Gt)foroiland gasfelds;65Gt forcoalfelds;and 1,738Gtforsaline reservoirs, collectively representingover500years of storage.At current CO2 emission rates, calculations indicate that there is more than 500 years of storage potential in assessed formations. TheCO2Storage Atlasofthe NorwegianNorth Sea was published in2011,describing possible subsurface storage locations for carbondioxidein theNorwegianpart oftheNorthSea. Theatlasshowsthat thisareahasatotalstoragecapacity ofabout70GtofCO2.AlsoAustraliais following now.Last year the Queensland CarbonDioxideGeologicalStorageAtlas waspublishedasthefrststorageatlas from Australia. ForEurope,theEUGeoCapacityproject (involving25Europeanpartners)has providedGISmapsofthelocationof potentialgeologicalstoragecapacityin deepsalineformations,hydrocarbon reservoirsandcoalfelds(Fig.1).The storage capacity estimates are in total 360 Gt with 326 Gt in deep saline aquifers, 32 Gtindepletedhydrocarbonfeldsand2 Gt in unmineable coal beds. The onshore storagecapacityisupto116Gtandthe offshore storage capacity is up to 244 Gt. TheEuropeanCommissioninitiatedthe project CO2StoP in 2011 to establish a database of publicly available data on CO2 storage potential in Europe (see this newsletter). The CO2StoP databasemaybethefrststep towards a European storage atlas. Theprimarypurposeofa European Atlas would be to give theCO2storagepotentialforall Europeanstates.Productionof such an Atlas would entail the cooperation and coordination of CO2 geological storage expertsfromgovernmentagencies, geologicalsurveysaswellasacademia andindustry.Theobjectiveoftheatlas istoprovideanoverviewofgeological structuresthataresuitableforsecure long-termstorageofCO2.Knowledge regarding reservoir properties, sealing rocks,migrationpaths,storage capacityandmonitoringmethods iscrucialinordertodetermine whetherpotentialstoragelocations aresuitedtostoreCO2overalong period of time. According to the EU EnergyRoadmap2050,Europe needstoapplyCO2 geologicalstorage fromaround2030inthepowersector inordertoattainemission-reduction targets. AEuropeanatlaswillbevital forenablingprogressivecommercial deployment within the right time frame. Publishedorinteractive?Avital questionforaEuropeanstorageatlas iswhethertopublishtheatlasin traditional form and update it regularly, as fortheCarbonSequestration Atlasofthe United States and Canada, or to create an interactive atlas that is accessible over the internet. The published version will, as in the case of the American atlas, need updates everyfewyearsasnewdatabecome availableandmethodologiesforCO2 storageestimatesareimproved,whereas aninteractiveatlaswouldbeupdated directlyandcontinuously.Publishedor interactive,ENeRGconsidersthattimeis now for a comprehensive European Atlas. Partoftheworkhasalreadybeendone and,moreimportant,thereisinEurope acohesiveresearchcommunitywhocan successfully realize that. Niels Poulsenpresident of ENeRGThe Newsletter of the ENeRG NetworkIssue N 26 September 2012European CO2 Geological Storage AtlasFig.1 EU GeoCapacity project (2009): Map of CO2 emission sources and storage sitesThe15-monthprojectCO2StoP (AssessmentofCO2StoragePotentialin Europe) started at the beginning of this year. TheobjectiveofCO2StoPistobuildaCO2 storagepotentialdatabasefortheEuropean CommissionandtheJointResearchCentre (JRC).TheCO2Stopprojectincludes29 partners,whichareorganizedinasmall consortiumwithGEUSascoordinatorand BGSandTNOascontractors.Allother partnersaresubcontracted.Thepartners includenationalgeologicalsurveysand arangeofotherresearchorganizations; mostofthemarealsomembersofENeRG. The EU GeoCapacity project had 26 project partnersfrom20countries,mostofwhich havejoinedtheCO2StoPproject,butthere arealsonewpartnerswithintheCO2Stop project. In general, there is one from each of the participating countries, in total 29 partners representing29researchinstitutesfrom29 countries (21 EU member states, 3 associated countriesand5othercountries)(Fig.2).TheCO2StoPprojectisanEUservice contract project to build a CO2 storage potential database for aquifers and hydrocarbon felds basedonpubliclyavailabledatafrommost European countries; as such, the project will notdevelopnewdatabutbuildonexisting knowledgeincludingmethodologiesto:TheCO2StoPprojectisbuildingupon thebasicworkandresultsgeneratedbythe previousprojects,theEUGeoCapacityFP6 R&D project (see GEO ENeRGY No 12/2005, 14/2006, 16/2007, 18/2008) which again was based upon the results of the Joule II project (fnalised 1995), the GESTCO project (fnalised 2003), and the Castor project (fnalised 2007).The results of the project are to be used for EU policymaking purposes. This assumes that the most important goal for the policymakers istoassesstherolethatCCScanplayina portfolio of greenhouse gas mitigation options, and to know the potential CO2 storage capacity andthelocationofthisstoragecapacity.Regretfully, the CO2StoP project is limited inresponsibility,totally13person-monthsof work. The project will depend on the amount of publicly available data. It is therefore uncertain iftheprojectwillresultinacomprehensive database.Furthermore,futureupdatesof thedatainthedatabasearenotincluded intheproject. Along-termsolutionwillbea storage atlas for Europe using an interactive webdatabaseserverdrawingthepublicly availabledatafromtheindividualcountries databases, and using the experiencefromOne Geology-Europeand fromEuroGeoSource. Niels PoulsenPresident of ENeRGENeRG Partners Involved in the European Commission CCS database project - CO2StoPThe CO2 Storage Atlas of the Norwegian part of the North Sea has been prepared by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), on request by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.ItwaslaunchedbytheMinister on13thDecember2011(Fig.3).Thekey objectiveforthisatlasistodocument whereitcanbepossibletoimplementsafe long-termstorageofCO2,andhowmuch capacitythereisforgeologicalstorageof CO2offshoreNorway.Possiblestorage sitesshouldhavenointerferencewiththe petroleum activity, and mapping and volume calculationsshouldbeverifable.Another important objective for the atlas was to form the basis for any terms and conditions to be set for future development of a storage site.Thestudyisbasedondetailedwork onallrelevantgeologicalformationsand hydrocarbonfeldsintheNorwegianpartof theNorthSea.NPDhasaccesstoalldata collected on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) related to the petroleum industry and hasanationalresponsibilityforthedata. Thisdatabase,togetherwithmanyyearsof dedicatedworktoestablishgeologicalplay modelsfortheNorthSea,hasgivenusa goodbasisfortheworkwearepresenting here.21geologicalformationshavebeen individuallyassessed,andgroupedinto saline aquifers. A systematic workfow and characterization systemhasbeendevelopedforthisstudy. Aquifersandstructureswereevaluated intermsofcapacityandsafestorageof CO2.Insubsequentstepsintheworkfow, potential reservoirs and seals identifed were evaluatedandcharacterizedfortheirCO2 storage prospectivity. Sealing quality is based onevaluationofthesealinglayers(shales) andpossiblefracturingoftheseal.Existing wellsthroughtheaquifers/structuresand seals have beenalso considered. Reservoir capacitydependsonthecalculatedvolume andcommunicatingvolumesaswellasthe reservoirinjectivity.Parametersusedinthe characterizationprocessarebasedondata andexperiencefromthepetroleumactivity on the NCS and the fact that CO2 should be stored in the supercritical phase to have the most effcient and safest storage.CO2 Storage Atlas, Norwegian North SeaFig.2 Countries participating in the CO2StoP projectDevelopaharmonisedmethodologyand formulaeforassessinggeologicalCO2 storage capacity in Europe. DefneasetofCO2storageparameters thatwillallowtheagreedmethodology tobeimplemented:bothmethodology andparameterstobedefnedinclose cooperation with the JRC.Providethestoragedatadefnedabove foreachcountry:thistobeheldinanEU database. EstimateCO2storagecapacityinEurope bothindeepsalineaquifersandin hydrocarbon felds.ENeRG European Network for Research in Geo-Energy is an informal contact network open to all European organisations with a primary mission and objective to conduct basic and applied research and technological activities related to the exploration and production of energy sources derived from the Earths crust.ENeRG president for 2012 is Niels E. Poulsen from Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark. Contact: nep@geus.dkENeRG secretariat is run by the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, University of Zagreb, Croatia.Contact person: Zeljka Kurelec ENeRG website: is maintained by the Czech Geological Survey (CGS). Prague, Czech Republic. Contact person: Dr. Vt Hladk ENeRG Newsletter GEO ENeRGYThe Newsletter is published by the Institute of Geology at Tallinn University of Technology. Tallinn, Estonia.Editor: Dr. Alla Shogenova Layout and computer typesetting: Kazbulat ShogenovLanguage review: Jon R. Ineson (GEUS) and Gillian E Pickup (Heriot-Watt University)ENeRG European Network for Research in Geo-EnergyThe North American Carbon Storage Atlas 2012 Thetotalpotentialstoragecapacity wascalculatedforthesalineaquifersin theareaswherethereisconsideredto benosignifcantinterferencewiththe petroleumactivity.Inareaswithextensive explorationandexploitationofpetroleum, the potential storage capacity was based on abandonedfelds.Theatlasalsoprovides astudyoflongdistancemigrationofCO2 andvolumecalculationsofsomestructural closureswithinregionalaquifers.The storage effciency factor has been assessed individuallyforeachaquiferbasedon simplifed reservoir simulation cases. Theestimatedstoragecapacityis classifedbytheexplorationmaturityofthe sites, with an estimated total potential of 48 Gigatonnesinaquifersand24Gigatonnes tobestoredinhydrocarbonfeldsafter abandonment. Eva HallandProject DirectorNorwegian Petroleum Directorateeva.halland@npd.noTheUSANationalEnergyTechnology Laboratory(NETL)publishedtheresultsof the frst comprehensive mapping of the CO2 storagepotentialTheCarbonSequestra-tion Atlas of the United States and Canada in 2007.Itsfourthversion(thistimeincluding alsothepotentialinMexico)TheNorth AmericanCarbonStorageAtlaswaspre-sentedatthe11thAnnualConferenceon CarbonCaptureUtilizationandSequestra-tioninPittsburghonMay1,2012(Fig.4). Thisisthemostcurrentdepictionofthe potential CO2 geological storage capacity in North America.Theconservativeestimates of the CO2 storage capacity is 136 Giga tons (Gt) for oil and gas felds; 65 Gt for coalfelds; and1,738Gtforsalinereservoirs.Apply-ingthemethodologyofthestaticresource estimation,continuingwiththecurrentCO2 emissionrates,calculationsindicatethat thereismorethan500yearsofstorage potential in assessed formations. High esti-mates were also given which resulted in the potential even up to 5,000 years. Thedevelopmentoftheatlasinvolved the three countries identifying, gathering and sharing data on major carbon dioxide (CO2) sourcesandpotentialstorageobjectsand, what is the most important, using compatible methodologies.Itisfrequentlymentioned byoffcialsthattheatlaswillbeparticularly usefulforstoringCO2incross-borderres-ervoirs. Anovelapproachinrespecttotheear-lierversionsmeansthatitisnownotonly thecompletecontinentalatlas,italsohas an online version (www.nacsap.org) and an onlinemapviewer,whichwillprovideinter-active display and analysis of both the emis-sion data and storage potential. The website containsinformationaboutCO2stationary sources(2250altogether)andstoragere-sources in North America (oil and gas felds, coalfeldsandsalinereservoirs),aswell asmethodologiesforestimatingstorage resourcesandlinkstoadditionalinforma-tion. The online viewer houses data from all threecountries,alongwithanalyticaltools toaddressCCSdeployment.Intendedfor abroadrangeofusers,theonlineviewer givesusersinteractiveaccesstothemap layers and data used in the atlas. Thereisanotherimportantdifferencein comparisontoearlierversions.Itshowsan increaseinpotentialstoragecapacity,at-tributedmainlytobettergeologicresolution andtheidentifcationofadditionallocations that could be used for EOR. By matching up EOR storage locations with specifc sources ofCO2,theatlasprovidesamorecompre-hensiveviewoftheoutlookandpotential for carbon storage through EOR as an early moverforconstructionofalargeCCSsys-tem.The atlas was developed at national level bytheU.S.DepartmentofEnergy,Natural Resources Canada and the Mexican Minis-tryofEnergy.Particularlyworthmentioning isitsregionalorientationresultingfromthe workoftheDepartmentofEnergysRe-gionalCarbonSequestrationPartnerships, whose 400 organizations have heavily con-tributed over the last decade to characterize geologicstorageopportunitiesintheU.S. and Canada. Therefore, a major part of the atlas is dedicated to descriptions of the dem-onstrationandvalidationprojectsaimedto better characterize the selected prospective areas in terms of the subsurface geological composition and properties. In this way, and with more details, the atlas will not only pro-videanoverview,butalsopresentacom-pendium of the current best practices.Bruno SafticUniversity of ZagrebFig.4 Front page of the North American Carbon Storage AtlasFig.3 Front page of the Norwegian North Sea CO2 Storage AtlasQueensland CO2 Geological Storage AtlasThe ENeRG Network Country RepresentativesALBANIAProf Adil NezirajAlbanian Geological Surveyaneziraj@gsa.gov.alAUSTRIAProf Karl MillahnUniversity of Leobenkarl.millahn@mu-leoben.atBOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINAProf Edin Delic University of Tuzlaedin.delic@untz.baBULGARIAProf Georgi V. GeorgievSofa Universitygigeor@abv.bgCROATIAProf Bruno SafticUniversity of Zagrebbruno.saftic@rgn.hrCZECH REPUBLICDr Vit HladikCzech Geological Survey (CGS)vit.hladik@geology.czDENMARKDr Niels E. PoulsenGeological Survey of Denmarkand Greenland (GEUS)nep@geus.dkESTONIADr Alla ShogenovaInstitute of Geology,Tallinn University of Technologyalla@gi.eeFINLANDJarmo KallioGeological Survey of Finlandjarmo.kallio@gtk.fFRANCEDr Isabelle Czernichowski-LauriolBRGMi.czernichowski@brgm.frGREECEDr Apostolos ArvanitisInstitute of Geology & MineralExploration (IGME)arvanitis@igme.grHUNGARYDr Endre HegedsEtvs Lorand GeophysicalInstitute (ELGI)hegedus@elgi.huITALYIng Sergio PersogliaNational Institute of Oceanographyand Experimental Geophysics (OGS)spersoglia@ogs.trieste.itLATVIADr Viktor LisinInterseisinterseis@inbox.lvLITHUANIADr Saulius SliaupaInstitute of Geology and Geography sliaupa@geo.ltFYROM (MACEDONIA)Dr Gavril MirakovskiUniversity in Skopje mirak@pluto.iziis.ukim.edu.mkMOLDOVADr Oleg BogdevichInstitute of Geology andSeismologybogdevicholeg@yahoo.comMONTENEGROIng Vladan DubljevicGeological Survey of Montenegrovladan.dubljevic@gov.meTHE NETHERLANDSDr Chris te StretNetherlands Institute of AppliedGeoscience TNO NationalGeological Surveychris.testroet@tno.nlNORWAYDimitrios HatzignatiouInternational Research Instituteof Stavanger (IRIS)Dimitrios.Hatzignatiou@iris.noPOLANDDr Adam WojcickiPolish Geological Instituteawojci@pgi.gov.plPORTUGALVirgilio Cabrita da SilvaMinistry of Economical Activitiesand Innovation DirectorateGeneral for Energy and Geologyvirgilio.cabritadasilva@dgge.ptROMANIADr Constantin S. SavaNational Institute for MarineGeology and Geoecology GeoEcoMarsavac@geoecomar.roRUSSIAProf Alexander IlinskyVNIGRIalex.ilinsky@bk.ruSERBIADr Snezana Komatina-PetrovicUnion University Belgradeunabojan@eunet.rsSLOVAKIADr Ludovit KucharicDionyz Stur State GeologicalInstituteludovit.kucharic@geology.skSLOVENIAMarjeta CarGEOINENIRING d.o.o.m.car@geo-inz.siSPAINRoberto Martinez OrioGeological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME)ro.martinez@igme.esTURKEYProf Ender OkandanMiddle East Technical University Petroleum Research Center okandan@metu.edu.trUK ScotlandProf Patrick CorbettHeriot-Watt UniversityP.W.M.Corbett@hw.ac.ukThe Queensland CO2 Geological Storage Atlasevaluatesthegeologicalsuitabilityof theQueenslandsbasinsforlarge-scale CO2storageanddoesnotconsiderfactors suchaspotentialinterferencewithother resources(e.g.groundwater,hydrocarbon exploration,coalmining)anddistancefrom CO2.Thirtysixonshorebasinshavebeen assessedforCO2geologicalstoragein saline aquifers (either conventional structural trapsorthroughmigration-assistedstorage mechanisms),depletedhydrocarbonfelds and unmineable coal seams.TheAtlasalsocontainsseismicdata coverage maps, together with line-drawings andgeologicalcross-sections.Inparticular, foreachbasin,astratigraphicchartis presented,wherecolour-codedlithologies helptoidentifypotentialreservoirand caprockunits.Thetimescaleusedinthe chartsistheGeologicalTimescale2004, modifedtoincorporateAustralianstage names (Gradstein et al., 2005).Inordertoverifywhetherabasinhas asuffcientsedimentaryinfll(>800m, mindepthtostoreCO2inasupercritical state),basementmaps,compiledfrom theOZSEEBASETM(2005)areprovided intheAtlas,highlightingbasementrock exposures, basement faults and lineaments andearthquakedata(source:Geoscience Australia).The second step has been the defnition of storage complex ranking criteria, based on the reservoir and the caprock effectiveness, asacceptable(score:3),uncertain (score:2)andbelowminimum(score:1). Thetotalscoreofastoragecomplexisthe sum of the individual ranking criteria scores, ranging from a minimum of 8 to a maximum of 15.Thethirdphaseisrepresentedby thestoragevolumetricestimationbased onfree-phasetrapping,i.e.dissolution, mineralizationandadsorptionhavenot beenconsidered.Aspectsconcerning nomenclatureinconsistenciesbetween CO2trappingmechanismsandstorage processes are also discussed.IntheAtlas,regionalestimatestorage capacitiesarealsoprovided,which correspondtothesocalledtheoretical capacities,asdefnedbyBachuetal. (2007)intheirstorageresourcepyramid. Foreachreservoiridentifedashaving themostsignifcantpotential,arankingof thesubjectiveestimateaccuracy(from VeryGoodtoPoor)basedondataquality andmethodusedintheevaluationofthe potentialstoragecapacity,isprovided.The equationusedforthevolumetricestimation of the CO2 storage is:MCO2=RV**Sg*Where:MCO2: mass of CO2 stored (kg)RV: total reservor volume (m3): total effective pore space (fraction)Sg: gas saturation within the pore space as a fraction of the total pore space: CO2 density at the reservoir depth (kg/m3)Basins have been then grouped in three maincategories:highprospectivitybasins (reservoir-caprockwithdemonstrated effectivenessforinjection,storageand containmentofCO2),lowprospectivity basins(reservoir-caprockwithuncertain effectiveness) and unsuitable basins (Fig.5).TheQueenslandbasinassessment revealsthatthemostpromisingstorage complexes lie in fve basins, with the highest rankedbeingrepresentedbyPaleozoic-Mesozoicfuvialandcoastalreservoirs, hostinghydrocarbonfeldsandmajor salineaquifers.Theirtheoreticalstorage capacities are in order of thousands to tens ofthousandsofMt(Bradshawetal.,2009, 2011).Federica Donda and Sergio PersogliaOGSFig.5Geologicalstorageprospectivityof onshore Queensland basins. Also shown are locationsofmajorstationaryCO2emissions nodesscaledbytotalinstalledpowerstation capacity(Mw)(Bradshawetal.,2011, reproduced with permission of the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines)