Ship transport – a low cost and low risk CO2 transport option in the Nordic countries

Journal article, 2016

This paper investigates CO2 transport options and associated costs for CO2-sources in the Nordic region. Cost for ship and pipeline transport is calculated both from specific sites and as a function of volume and distance. We also investigate the pipeline volumetric break-even point which yields the CO2 volume required from a specific site for pipeline to become a less costly transport option than ship transport. Finally, we analyze possible effects from injectivity on the choice of reservoir and transport mode. The emission volumes from the Nordic emission sources (mostly industries) are modest, typically between 0.1 to 1.0 Mt per year, while distances to feasible storage sites are relatively long, 300 km or, in many cases, considerably more. Combined, this implies both that build-up of an inland CO2 collection system by pipeline will render high cost and that it is likely to take time to establish transportation volumes large enough to make pipeline transport cost efficient (since this will require multiple sources connected to the same system). At the same time, many of the large emission sources, both fossil based and biogenic, are located along the coast line. It is shown that CO2 transport by ship is the least costly transportation option not only for most of the sources individually but also for most of the potential cluster combinations during ramp-up of the CCS transport and storage infrastructure. It is also shown that cost of ship transport only increases modestly with increasing transport distance. Analyzing the effect of injectivity it was found that poor injectivity in reservoirs in the Baltic Sea may render it less costly to transport the CO2 captured from Finnish and Swedish sources located along the Baltic Sea by ship a further 800-1300 km to the west for storage in better suited aquifers in the Skagerrak region or in the North Sea.