Large-Scale U.S. Unconventional Fuels Production and the Role of Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Technologies in Reducing Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Abstract

Abstract Under two future hypothetical climate policies and assuming the wide-scale availability of cost-effective carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies, the emergence of a domestic U.S. oil shale or coal-to-liquids (CTL) industry would likely be responsible for significant increases in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to the atmosphere. The oil shale production facilities required to produce 3MMB/d from the Ecocene Green River formation using an in situ retorting process would result in net emissions to the atmosphere of between 3000–7000 MtCO2, in addition to storing potentially 900–5000 MtCO2 in regional deep geologic formations in the period up to 2050. A similarly sized, but geographically more dispersed domestic CTL industry could result in 4000–5000 MtCO2 emitted to the atmosphere, in addition to potentially 21,000–22,000 MtCO2 stored in regional deep geologic formations over the same period up to 2050. Preliminary analysis of regional CO2 storage capacity in locations where such facilities might be sited indicates that there appears to be sufficient storage capacity, primarily in deep saline formations, to accommodate the CO2 from these industries.