CO2 transport guidelines

Sept. 14, 2009
Debate continues in scientific, political, financial, and environmental circles regarding the viability and cost of capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide as part of future energy policies.

Debate continues in scientific, political, financial, and environmental circles regarding the viability and cost of capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide as part of future energy policies. Some think it can't be done. Some think it shouldn't be done. Others see it as an absolute necessity.

Side-stepping this debate, however, Det Norske Veritas has issued the first guidelines setting out criteria for the development, design, construction, testing, operation, and maintenance of steel pipelines transporting CO2. The guidelines, developed as a joint industry project (JIP) under DNV's carbon capture and storage section, apply to new offshore and onshore pipelines transporting fluids containing overwhelmingly CO2, the conversion of existing pipelines, the pipeline transportation of CO2 captured from hydrocarbon streams and anthropogenic CO2, the pipeline transportation of natural sources for enhanced oil recovery, and other larger-scale transportation of CO2. The guidelines include gaseous, liquid, and dense-phase operating conditions.

DNV started its JIP, CO2PIPETRANS, toward developing the guidelines roughly a year ago. Partners in the project were ArcelorMittal, BP PLC, Chevron Corp., Dong Energy, Gassco, Gassnova, ILF, Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), Royal Dutch Shell PLC, StatoilHydro, and Vattenfall. Representatives of the Health and Safety Executive in the UK, the state supervision of mines in the Netherlands, and the Petroleum Safety Authority in Norway also participated.

Guidelines developed by the JIP supplement current pipeline standards such as ISO 13623, DNV OS-F101, and ASME B31.4, addressing specific CO2 transportation issues for CCS developers, pipeline engineering and construction companies, pipeline operating companies, authorities, and certification companies.

DNV says it will issue a recommended practice based on the guidelines as soon as possible, and to that end has invited existing and new partners to join a second phase of the CO2PIPETRANS JIP, addressing knowledge gaps identified during Phase 1. Areas requiring additional research and development are:

  • CO2 release modeling validation data.
  • Fracture arrest—full-scale crack arrest.
  • Corrosion—investigation of corrosion rates at high partial-pressure CO2.
  • Material compatibility—polymers, elastomers.
  • Effects of impurities.
  • Hydrate formation.

DNV will distribute further information regarding participation in Phase 2 at 10 a.m. on the following dates: Sept. 16 at its Houston offices, Sept. 23 at the Calgary Marriott Hotel, and Sept. 30 at the Cumberland Hotel, London.

Grounding discussion

CO2 has long been transported via pipeline as part of enhanced oil recovery operations. The prospect of shipping CO2 through a potentially vast array of pipelines for the purpose of sequestration, however, has heightened interest in the topic, with competing interests in the CCS debate citing information often at odds with each other in an effort to advance their case.

CCS logistical risks range from capture and transportation to storage, and involve the commercial risks related to building a completely new value chain capable of establishing the appropriate risk-reward relationships for a variety of stakeholders with different backgrounds, objectives, and appetites for risk. The new CCS market must provide predictable long-term conditions for everyone, including a transparent decision basis and interfaces yet to be defined.

Norway plans to build its first full-scale CCS plant as early as 2012. Europe hopes to develop demonstration projects by 2015, followed by large-scale industry plants by 2020. North America and Australia are also active, and the global community is discussing how to incorporate CCS in a possible global greenhouse gas emission trading scheme, based on the goal of having a strong, global CO2 price as one important incentive for the industry (OGJ, Aug. 17, 2009, p. 50).

The energy bill submitted in June by the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee proposed a national indemnity program through the US Department of Energy for up to 10 commercial-scale CCS projects (OGJ Online, June 22, 2009), while a sequestration plant capable of storing CO2 in deep formations beneath Barrow Island is a key component in advancing Chevron's Gorgon LNG project in western Australia (OGJ, July 20, 2009, p. 10).

DNV intends its recommended practice to help designers and operators manage uncertainties and risks related to pipeline transmission of CO2. But in taking the lead on developing these recommended practices, DNV is also providing a foundation from which the scientific and economic questions surrounding CCS can be discussed.

The breadth of organizations participating in Phase 1 helps ensure inclusion of the views of a wide variety of stakeholders in the future of CCS. Adding participants for Phase 2 will only further the degree to which this is the case.

Oil & Gas Journal Issue Articles