Alleged leakage from CO2 storage site in Canada

av Camilla Svendsen Skriung — 12.Jan.2011 - 17:20

The Canadian farmers Cameron and Jane Kerr, who own land above the Weyburn oilfield in eastern Saskatchewan, have released a consultant's report that claims to link high concentrations of carbon dioxide in their soil to CO2 injected underground every day. University based research institution, refer to ten years of research without any indications of CO2 lekages in the area.

Weyburn‐Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project has been involved in measuring and monitoring injection of CO2 into the Weyburn and Midale oilfields in Southeastern Saskatchewan since the year 2000.

As part of this project, the energy company Cenovus injects 8,000 tonnes of CO2 every day, to reduce emissions of this greenhouse gas (GHG) and for so called enhanced oil recovery.

Now a Saskatchewan farm couple says CO2 are leaking out, seriosly affecting both animal and plant life, in addition to the ground water resources. Petro-Find Geochemical, the consultant, claims to have found high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the soil that matches the carbon dioxide Cenovus has been injecting.

Read the CBC news here: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2011/01/11/sk-carbon-complaint-1101.html

The Petroleum Technology Resears Center (PTRC) has released a statement regarding these claims, referring to ten years of extended research showing that soil gases sampled are in the normal range for these soil types given variations in organic matter content, moisture, temperature and seasonal variations. No evidence of CO2 originating from the 1.5 km deep Midale Reservoir (the geological unit at the Weyburn Field) has been observed in any of these surveys undertaken by these international scientific organizations. Similarly shallow well water samples taken repeatedly throughout this study over 10 years have not indicated any evidence of CO2 from the deep geological reservoir.

PTRC is a not-for-profit research and development organization with offices and laboratories in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. They were founded in 1998 by Natural Resources Canada, Saskatchewan Industry and Resources, Saskatchewan Research Council and the University of Regina, with support from the western Canadian oil and gas industry.

Read the statement here: http://www.ptrc.ca/siteimages/PTRC%20Reponse%20Kerr.pdf

Now, a review of the Petro-Find Geochemical report will be undertaken. But most important; the government of Saskatchewan and Cenovus must fund an independent study, which should be carried out by a research institution like the PTRC. An environmental group or organisation should be involved in this process, in terms of controlling the work and seeing all the data.

http://www.co2-handel.de/ (in German)

http://www.ptrc.ca/Response.pdf

http://www.ptrc.ca/news - Summary of findings (19.Jan 2011)

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/a-carbon-storage-leak-not-so-fast-experts-caution/ (22 Jan 2011)

http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/news-views/news/impartial-study-promised-for-sask-co2-leak/ (27 Jan 2011)