This is a collection of conference program and abstracts presented at AOGC 2010, Canberra.

Currently there is no uniform methodology to estimate geological CO2 storage capacity. Each country or organization uses its own evaluation and estimation method. During 2011-2012, the International Energy Agency has convened a process among national geological survey organizations to recommend a common estimation method for countries to use. Such a method should describe a typical process for developing assessments of CO2 storage resources; recommend a sound methodology for arriving at a jurisdictional or national-scale CO2 storage resource assessment that could be applied globally; and recommend a way forward to bridge the gap between such a resource and a policy-makers aspiration to understand what proportion of the resource can be relied on and is likely to be technically accessible at any particular cost. This report will outline a 'roadmap' to address these recommendations in a way that jurisdictions can use extant methodologies or craft their own to assess their CO2 storage endowment in a manner consistent with other jurisdictions. In this way they may be able to fully utilize their endowment as well as make a contribution to the potential realization of a worldwide estimate of storage resource.

The geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) is the process whereby CO2 captured from power plants or other industrial facilities is transported by pipeline to a suitable location and then injected under pressure into a deep geological reservoir formation, where it remains permanently trapped and prevented from entering the atmosphere. The processes by which it is retained in the subsurface are generally those that have trapped oil, gas and naturally generated CO2 for millions of years. The geological formations that can be utilised for this trapping have the same characteristics as those that are able to act as reservoir rocks for petroleum. They have good porosity and permeability and have an overlying sealing formation, which will prevent the trapped fluids migrating out of the storage reservoir and possibly escaping to the surface. In addition, because of the phase behaviour of CO2, efficient storage requires that they are stored at depths greater than 800 below the surface. Unlike oil and gas, which rely primarily on a three dimensional structural trap to prevent them from ultimately rising to the surface, there are additional trapping mechanisms for CO2. Given a sufficiently long migration path within a formation, CO2 will ultimately be rendered immobile by dissolution into the formation water, residual trapping and potentially, over longer time scales, mineralisation. As groundwaters at these depths are generally saline, this type of storage is often termed deep saline aquifer storage. A recent nationwide review by Commonwealth and State geological surveys, as part of the Carbon Storage Taskforce, rated the suitability of geological basins across Australia for geological storage of CO2. The most geologically suitable basins are the offshore Gippsland and North Perth basins but several onshore basins also rate highly. These include the Eromanga, Cooper, Bowen, Galilee, Surat, Canning and Otway basins. The Victorian Government has recently released area for greenhouse gas storage exploration in the Gippsland Basin and the Queensland Government in the Galilee and Surat basins. The aquifers within these basins provide groundwater for human consumption, agriculture, mining, recreation and groundwater dependent ecosystems. The Surat Basin also contains oil and gas accumulations that are being exploited by the onshore petroleum industry. Understanding the existing the groundwater's chemistry and the connectivity between aquifers in the context of its current use is essential in order to determine whether prospective aquifers could be used for geological storage of CO2 without compromising other activities. The potential risks to groundwater from the potential migration of CO2 and changes to groundwater properties that might be expected will also be discussed. Current data gaps include poor hydrogeochemical data coverage for the deeper aquifers and particularly limited data on trace metals and organics. A comparison with experiences learned from enhanced oil recovery using CO2 in North America and the CO2CRC's pilot CO2 injection project in Western Victoria will illustrate some of the unique differences and opportunities for geological storage of CO2 in Australia. Oral presentation at "Groundwater 2010" conference, 31 October - 4th November 2010, Canberra

Geological Storage Potential of CO2 & Source to Sink Matching Matching of CO2 sources with CO2 storage opportunities (known as source to sink matching), requires identification of the optimal locations for both the emission source and storage site for CO2 emissions. The choice of optimal sites is a complex process and can not be solely based on the best technical site for storage, but requires a detailed assessment of source issues, transport links and integration with economic and environmental factors. Many assessments of storage capacity of CO2 in geological formations have been made at a regional or global level. The level of detail and assessment methods vary substantially, from detailed attempts to count the actual storage volume at a basinal or prospect level, to more simplistic and ?broad brush? approaches that try to estimate the potential worldwide (Bradshaw et al, 2003). At the worldwide level, estimates of the CO2 storage potential are often quoted as ?very large? with ranges for the estimates in the order of 100?s to 10,000?s Gt of CO2 (Beecy and Kuuskra, 2001; Bruant et al, 2002; Bradshaw et al 2003). Identifying a large global capacity to store CO2 is only a part of the solution to the CO2 storage problem. If the large storage capacity can not be accessed because it is too distant from the source, or is associated with large technical uncertainty, then it may not be possible to reliably predict that it would ever be of value when making assessments. To ascertain whether any potential storage capacity could ever be actually utilised requires analysis of numerous other factors. Within the GEODISC program of the Australian Petroleum Cooperative Research Centre (APCRC), Geoscience Australia (GA) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) completed an analysis of the potential for the geological storage of CO2. Over 100 potential Environmentally Sustainable Sites for CO2 Injection (ESSCIs) were assessed by applying a deterministic risk assessment (Bradshaw et al, 2002). At a regional scale Australia has a risked capacity for CO2 storage potential in excess of 1600 years of current annual total net emissions. However, this estimate does not incorporate the various factors that are required in source to sink matching. If these factors are included, and an assumption is made that some economic imperative will apply to encourage geological storage of CO2, then a more realistic analysis can be derived. In such a case, Australia may have the potential to store a maximum of 25% of our total annual net emissions, or approximately 100 - 115 Mt CO2 per year.

The Petrel Sub-basin Marine Survey GA-0335 (SOL5463) was undertaken on RV Solander during May 2012 as part of the Commonwealth Government's National Low Emission Coal Initiative (NLECI). The survey was a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and GA. The purpose was to acquire geophysical and biophysical data on shallow (less than 100 m water depth) seabed environments within two targeted areas in the Petrel Sub-basin to support the investigation of CO2 storage potential in these areas. Unconsolidated surface (seabed) sediments were collected at 11 sampling stations using a Smith_McIntyre grab (10L volume). Sediment samples were collected to provide data on a) sedimentology, b) infauna and c) the geochemical composition of the sediments. For the sedimentology (this dataset) up to 250 g of sediment was sub-sampled from the surface (0-2 cm) of the sediment recovered in the Smith_McIntyre grabs. Sub-samples were described from visual inspection, noting grain size, sorting and composition and these were stored in plastic bags and refrigerated. These were subsequently analysed at the GA laboratories to provide information on the texture and composition of the sediments at the sampling locations. Grain size measurement was undertaken by wet sieving to determine mud (<63 microns), sand (63-2000 microns) and gravel (>2000 microns) fractions as percentage of dry weight. A separate sub-sample (~1g) was used for laser diffraction measurement of the mud and sand fractions using a Malvern Mastersizer 2000, with results expressed as percentage of the total particle volume based on an average of three measurements on each sample. Particle size distributions including mean, median, and standard deviation, together with skewness and kurtosis indices were calculated. Separate sample splits were taken for measurement of the carbonate content using the carbonate bomb method following Muller and Gastner (1979).

The Petrel Sub-basin Marine Environmental Survey GA-0335, (SOL5463) was undertaken using the RV Solander during May 2012 as part of the Commonwealth Government's National Low Emission Coal Initiative (NLECI). The survey was undertaken as a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and GA. The purpose was to acquire geophysical and biophysical data on shallow (less then 100m water depth) seabed environments within two targeted areas in the Petrel Sub-basin to support investigation for CO2 storage potential in these areas. This 10 sample dataset comprises chlorophll abc measurments from surface sediments (0-2 cm) in the Timor Sea.

The Petrel Sub-basin Marine Environmental Survey GA-0335, (SOL5463) was undertaken by the RV Solander during May 2012 as part of the Commonwealth Government's National Low Emission Coal Initiative (NLECI). The survey was undertaken as a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and GA. The purpose was to acquire geophysical and biophysical data on shallow (less then 100m water depth) seabed environments within two targeted areas in the Petrel Sub-basin to support investigation for CO2 storage potential in these areas. This dataset comprises TCO2 pools (0-2cm) and fluxes calculated from bottle incubation experiments (24 hours).

The Petrel Sub-basin Marine Environmental Survey GA-0335, (SOL5463) was undertaken using the RV Solander during May 2012 as part of the Commonwealth Government's National Low Emission Coal Initiative (NLECI). The survey was undertaken as a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and GA. The purpose was to acquire geophysical and biophysical data on shallow (less then 100m water depth) seabed environments within two targeted areas in the Petrel Sub-basin to support investigation for CO2 storage potential in these areas. This dataset comprise TOC, TN and carbon and nitrogen isotope data from surface sediments (0-2cm) in the Timor Sea.

The Petrel Sub-basin Marine Environmental Survey GA-0335, (SOL5463) was undertaken by the RV Solander during May 2012 as part of the Commonwealth Government's National Low Emission Coal Initiative (NLECI). The survey was undertaken as a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and GA. The purpose was to acquire geophysical and biophysical data on shallow (less then 100m water depth) seabed environments within two targeted areas in the Petrel Sub-basin to support investigation for CO2 storage potential in these areas. This dataset has analysis of Chlorin and geochemmistry for samples taken on survey.

The CIAP project Best Available Information System (BAIS) uses a nested grid based on the ICSM map index series from 1:25:000 scale through to 1:1000000 scale tile indices by which statistics for consumed data services are generated and stored. This GIS data set is a key functional component of the BAIS.