Tatneft to present report on suitability of site near Nizhnekamsk for carbon storage

KAZAN. Aug 25 (Interfax) - Tatneft expects to present a report to the authorities by the end of the year on the suitability of a property near the Nizhnekamsk industrial zone for injection of CO2, the head of oil and gas field geology at the Russian oil company, Albert Bachkov said at the Underground Structures 2023 conference.

"We are already working for the second year on a project to geologically study structures suitable for CO2 storage, as part of which we drilled three wells [one with a depth of 1.8 km and two 1.4 km]. At two wells at which we are conducing experimental work as regards pumping out water, we're observing what influence there is. We see that as of today there is no influence. The theory that the cap rock necessary for creating underground storage exists is being confirmed. In the next three months we plan to conduct biomechanical tests on core samples and come out with a report on the storage facility by the end of the year," Bachkov said.

The expert and technical council of the State Commission for Mineral Reserves considered the application Tatneft submitted in December 2021 to assess the suitability of a site near the Nizhnekamsk industrial zone for CO2 injections in the summer of 2022. The company plans to set up a storage facility at a water-bearing formation.

"There are plans to capture CO2 from exhaust gases at the Nizhnekamsk CHPP-2 and the Taneco oil refinery and subsequently inject it into underground formations. [...] A technological plan for injecting CO2 in liquefied form into geological structures has now been worked out, and equipment has been selected for pipelines and construction of wells and underground infrastructure," Tatneft said earlier.