CO2 storage potential of sedimentary basins of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic States

It has been increasingly realised that geological storage of CO2 is a prospective option for reduction of CO2 emissions. The CO2 geological storage potential of sedimentary basins with the territory of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic States is here assessed, and different storage options have been considered. The most prospective technology is hydrodynamic trapping in the deep saline aquifers. The utilisation of hydrocarbon (HC) fields is considered as a mature technology; however, storage capacities are limited in the region and are mainly related to enhanced oil (gas) recovery. Prospective reservoirs and traps have been identified in the Danube, Vienna and East Slovakian Neogene basins, the Neogene Carpathian Foredeep, the Bohemian and Fore-Sudetic Upper Paleozoic basins, the Mesozoic Mid-Polish Basin and the pericratonic Paleozoic Baltic Basin. The total storage capacity of the sedimentary basins is estimated to be as much as 10,170 Mt of CO2 in deep saline aquifer structures, and 938 Mt CO2 in the depleted HC fields. The utilisation of coal seams for CO2 storage is related to the Upper Silesian Basin where CO2 storage could be combined with enhanced recovery of coal-bed methane.