Study indicates potential CO2 storage in Western Canada could comfortably support transition to blue hydrogen

Canada’s Transition Accelerator released a report on CO₂ storage potential in Western Canada. The Transition Accelerator is an NGO catalyst and enabler of measures to reach net zero GHG emissions by 2050. The report supports an assessment of the prospects for “blue” hydrogen, which is produced from natural gas with the associated CO₂ byproduct being contained and stored. The study concluded that Western Canada contains both good geology for pure storage and mature oil reservoirs, where injected CO₂ can be used to sustain declining production and remain in place afterwards.

The authors used the federal government’s estimate of hydrogen use in Canada contained in the Hydrogen Strategy for Canada. That leads to an estimated total demand for storage of 200 Mt CO₂/yr. If the current estimated amount of storage potential were developed into proven capacity, it would be sufficient to meet that demand for almost 400 years. Industry’s track record of converting storage resources into proven capacity suggests this is not an unrealistic forecast.