International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 308317

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International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijggc

A preliminary assessment on CO2 storage capacity in the Pearl River Mouth Basin
offshore Guangdong, China
Di Zhou , Zhongxian Zhao, Jie Liao, Zhen Sun
CAS key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, 164 West Xingang Road, Guangzhou, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 17 May 2010
Received in revised form 4 September 2010
Accepted 25 September 2010
Available online 25 October 2010
Keywords:
Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS)
CO2 storage capacity
Pearl River Mouth Basin
Guangdong Province
South China Sea

a b s t r a c t
Guangdong has Chinas highest GDP of any province and actively advocates low-carbon development. At
present, Guangdongs low-carbon roadmap emphasizes the adjustment of industrial structure, increased
energy saving and efciency, and renewable and nuclear energy, while CCS is not featured. This is partially
due to the geographical gap in the existing body of research on CCS in China, as to date no substantial
research on CCS has taken place in the regions south of the Yangtze River, including Guangdong.
This paper presents the partial outcome of the rst CCS-related research in Guangdong, which is aiming
for a preliminary assessment on the effective CO2 storage capacity in the Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB)
offshore Guangdong. As the storage capacity onshore Guangdong is limited as shown by a parallel study,
the offshore sedimentary basins deserve particular attention. The PRMB is the largest sedimentary basin in
the passive margin of the northern South China Sea, with a total area of nearly 200 000 km2 and maximum
sediment thickness of over 14 km. Based on published data, geological conditions and parameters for CO2
storage are analyzed, volumes of potential formations are calculated on a GIS platform, and the storage
capacity is calculated according to CSLF and USDOE formulations. The estimated effective storage capacity
is 308 Gt in deep saline formations, including 0.06 Gt in oil and gas elds. This capacity is sufciently large
for storaging the CO2 emitted from the major point sources in Guangdong in many decades. Promising
areas are suggested for further investigations.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) technology is the
most efcient technological option for greenhouse gas mitigation
that allows continued use of fossil fuels. China is undertaking a range of technical research and development projects on
CCS, including the national fundamental research and high-tech
programs, as well as a large number of international programs.
There is a geographical gap in the existing body of research on
CCS in China. To date, all of the major CCS projects in China have
focused on the regions north of the Yangtze River, with no substantial research having taken place in Chinas wealthy manufacturing
provinces in the south.
Guangdong is Chinas largest provincial economy, with an economy larger and more diverse than that of Saudi Arabia. In 2008
its GDP reached D 357 billion, with roughly 50% of this coming
from industry. Guangdongs legacy within China is pioneering the
reform and development of Chinas economy. The current provin-

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 20 89023147.

E-mail address: zhoudiscs@scsio.ac.cn (D. Zhou).
1750-5836/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2010.09.011

cial government is keen to maintain this position of leadership and

is actively promoting the importance of scientic development in
upscaling the provincial economy.
Guangdongs conceptual model for low carbon economic
development emphasizes the adjustment of industrial structure,
increasing energy saving and efciency, and deploying renewable and nuclear energy. While CCS is not currently featured in
the roadmap of low-carbon economic development in Guangdong,
there are needs for CCS. Guangdongs electricity industry has been
highly involved in the recent wave of promoting new IGCC plants,
with three under consideration for Guangdong at present, including two of 1200 MW. To date there has been no consideration on
how to deal with the CO2 captured in these plants. According to
the USDOE formula for CO2 emission (USDOE, 2008a), a 1200 MW
plant will emit 6 Mt CO2 annually, which would require 6 sites
that matched the injection rate at the North Sea Sleipner West eld
if it was to be stored underground.
In late 2009 to early 2010 we conducted a study on the CO2 storage capacity in the Sanshui Basin onshore Guangdong and the Pearl
River Mouth Basin (PRMB) offshore. This is the rst CCS-related
research project in the Guangdong Province, and is also the rst
to take place in South China. The study has shown that the capacity onshore Guangdong is very small, while the capacity offshore

D. Zhou et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 308317

is signicant. In this paper the preliminary assessment of the CO2

storage capacity in the PRMB is presented.
2. Methodology of assessment
Four classes of CO2 storage capacity, i.e. the theoretical, effective, practical, and matched capacity in the order of increasing
accuracy, were dened by Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum
(CSLF) (Bachu et al., 2007). The theoretical capacity is the maximum
upper limit for storage potential. It assumes that the systems entire
capacity to store CO2 in pore space, or dissolved at maximum saturation in formation uids, or adsorbed at 100% saturation in the
entire coal mass, is accessible and utilized to its full capacity. The
effective capacity is similar to theoretical capacity, but with a number of geological and engineering limitations applied. In practice
the effective capacity is obtained by the theoretical capacity multiplied by a storage efciency factor that reects the percentage of
pore volume that CO2 is expected to actually contact. In this study,
the effective capacities are assessed, and the data were collected
from published sources.
There are two types of storage sites in the PRMB: deep saline
formations and oil and gas reservoirs. The deep saline formations
are the porous rocks at depths below 800 m and with formation
water having total dissolved solids > 10 000 ppm (USDOE, 2008b).
The USDOE methodology (USDOE, 2008b) was used in the capacity
calculation for saline formations. In this scheme the entire aquifer
rather than only traps is considered. The storage capacities are
given by:
MCO2 = A h CO2 E

(1)

where A is the area of basin or region to be assessed, h is the gross

thickness of the saline formations to be assessed and E is the storage
efciency factor.
The estimation of CO2 storage capacity in oil and gas reservoirs
follows the CLSF scheme (Bachu et al., 2007), which is based on
the assumptions that the volume previously occupied by the produced hydrocarbons becomes available for CO2 storage, and that
CO2 will be injected into depleted oil and gas reservoirs until the
reservoir pressure is brought back to the original reservoir pressure. The effective storage capacity in each reservoir is calculated
on the basis of its recoverable hydrocarbon reserves, its reservoir
properties and in situ CO2 characteristics by the formula:

MCO2t = CO2r Rf

OOIP
Viw + Vpw E
Bf

(2)

where MCO2t is the estimated storage capacity in million ton, CO2r

is the density of CO2 in the reservoir, OOIP is the volume of original
oil in place at standard temperature and pressure, Rf is the recovery
factor, Bf is formation volume factor, Viw and Vpw are injected and
produced water, and E is the storage efciency factor.
Bachu (2008) pointed out that the CSLF and USDOE methodologies are computationally equivalent. The capacity given by Eq. (1)
should also be the effective capacity, as the effective coefcient E
is included. In addition, the saline formations to be assessed in
(1) is the formation that meets the requirement for CO2 storage,
thus we think the h in (1) should be the formation thickness times
the net/gross ratio, rather then being the gross formation thickness.
These understandings will be followed in this study.
3. Geography and geology
3.1. Geography
The Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB), 111 20 118 0 E and
18 30 23 00 N, is a NEE-elongated basin, 900 km long and

309

115280 km wide, with total area of nearly 200 000 km2 . The basin
resides offshore Guangdong Province in the shelf (68% of total
area) and the slope of the northern South China Sea, with water
depth ranging from 50 m to over 2000 m (Fig. 1). It is the largest
sedimentary basin in the northern South China Sea, and is the offshore basin most proximal to the industrialized area of the Pearl
River Delta in Guangdong.
3.2. General geology
Geologically the PRMB is an extensional basin in the passive
continental margin of the northern South China Sea. It was formed
by rifting of the South China Block in the Paleogene and subsequent
subsidence in the Neogene. Lithofacies in the basin was generally
continental in the Paleogene and marine in the Neogene.
The basement of the PRMB is composed of Mesozoic granites
and secondary Paleozoic metamorphic rocks. Above the basement
there are 4 depressions aligned in two NEE-running belts: The Zhu3 and Zhu-1 depressions in the northern depression belt, and the
Zhu-2 and Chaoshan depressions in the Southern depression belt
(Fig. 1). The two depression belts are separated by a NEE Central
Uplift belt.
In vertical sections the structures are composed of the lower
section of Paleogene rifts (half-grabens and grabens) and the upper
section of Neogene post-rift downwarps (Fig. 1). NEE faults often
controlled the orientation of the depressions, while NWW-EW
faults controlled the distribution of sags and traps. NW-running
large crustal or lithospheric faults cut the depression belts into
blocks.
Cenozoic volcanism occurred episodically from the Early Eocene
to Quaternary (Liang and Li, 1992). They are mostly acid and
intermediate volcanic clasts, with mac and intermediate lavas in
the Paleogene, and basaltic lavas in the Neogene and Quaternary.
Except for the Quaternary basalts these usually are small in size and
in the vicinity of large NW faults.
Earthquake activity has been sparse and weak in major portions
of the PRMB. There was only one M 6 earthquake occurred in the
western central uplift belt (September 1931, M6.75).
3.3. Stratigraphy and paleo-geography
The PRMB is lled with Cenozoic sediments with a maximum
thickness of >6 km in shelf areas and >14 km in slope areas (Chen et
al., 2003; Zhou et al., 2009). The stratigraphic column of the PRMB is
shown in Fig. 2. During the Paleogene the PRMB received uvial and
lacustrine clastic sedimentation in rifted basins and incised valleys.
In Neogene the PRMB subsided to a marine environment. In general the sealevel has been rising (Qin, 2002), opposite to the global
trend of sealevel dropping in this period. Paleo-Pearl River system
supplied large quantity of terrigenous sands and muds to the basin.
Frequent uctuation of sealevel has resulted in cyclic sedimentations all through time, forming multiple deltas in the north and
sequences of marine strata in the south.
3.4. Petroleum geology
Major source rocks in the PRMB are the lacustrine dark mudstones of Middle Eocene Wenchang Formation and the coal-bearing
sequences in Late Eocene to Early Oligocene Enping Formation. The
dark mudstones in the Miocene Zhuhai and Zhujiang Formations
are secondary source rocks (Cai, 2005).
There are three source-reservoir-seal assemblages in the PRMB:
(1) the self-contained Paleocene-Eocene continental assemblage
which occurs sparsely in the northern PRMB; (2) the welldeveloped Paleogene-Eocene-Miocene assemblage with sources in
continental Paleogene formations locally within sags, reservoirs in

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D. Zhou et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 308317

Fig. 1. Simplied geological map and cross-section AA of the Pearl River Mouth Basin. Data points used in the assessment are superimposed.

marine Zhuhai and Zhujiang Formations, and caprocks in upper

Zhujiang Formation; (3) the Miocene marine assemblage with
sources in Zhujiang Formation, reservoirs in Hanjiang Formation,
and caprocks in upper Hanjiang Formation.
Structural traps in sandstone and the cavities in carbonate
buildups are the principal reservoir types in the PRMB. Oil elds
have been found mainly in the Zhu-1 depression along the edges of
the Central Uplift belt. Most oil elds are small, except the LH11-1
eld with proved reserves over 100 Mt (0.73 billion barrels) (Zhu et
al., 2008). In recent years, large gas elds have been discovered in
the Zhu-3 and Zhu-2 depressions.

4. Capacity assessment for saline formations

4.1. Geological conditions for CO2 storage
Regional seals are the mudstone layers in Miocene Hanjiang
and Zhujiang formations. In the Zhu-1 depression the Hanjing
Formation contains 400600 m of mudstones, 7080% of the formation thickness; while in the Zhu-2 depression these numbers
are 700800 m and 8090%. The Zhujiang Formation contains both
seals and reservoirs. Its delta front and transgressional mudstones
have 5790% of the formation thickness in most part of the basin
(Cai, 2005). As the mudstones in the Hanjiang Formation form the
uppermost regional seal, in this assessment the strata above the
Hanjiang Formation will not be considered.
Frequent cyclic sealevel changes in the PRMB produced a large
amount of local seals. For example, the upper member of the Zhujiang Formation in the Wenchang A Sag of the Zhu-3 depression,
which contains 4275% mudstone with thickness of 191655 m
(Cai, 2005).

Potential reservoirs in the PRMB include deltaic, channel, transgressional, slope and low-stand fan sandstones, and reefal and
platform carbonates. Sandstones are rich in transitional facies,
decreases in neritic facies and poor in bathyal and abyssal facies
(Gong and Li, 1997). Sandstone reservoirs have been found mostly
in Zhuhai, Zhujiang, and Hanjiang formations, and possibly in the
uvial sandbars of the Enping Formation. Carbonate reservoirs are
found in Miocene formations and mainly in the Dongsha Uplift.
In the Late Oligocene Zhuhai Formation oil accumulations of 8 m
and 4 m thick have been found, with sandstone porosity of 1016%
and permeability of 485 mD (Cai, 2005).
The Miocene Zhujiang and Hanjiang Formations contains reservoirs of mainly delta-front sandstones, with porosity of 16.329.6%
and permeability of 1881732 mD. Among these the best reservoir was found in the Hanjiang Formation with a thickness of 8 m,
porosity of 29.6%, and permeability of 1732 mD (Cai, 2005).
Carbonate reservoirs in the PRMB have a porosity range of 928%
and a permeability range of 71365 mD. The LH11-1 oil eld has
average porosity of 23% and permeability of 471.5 mD. Well LH41-1 has an average porosity of 23% and permeability of 471.5 mD.
The LF15-1 limestones have an average porosity of 26% and a permeability range of 7203 mD. Well LF22-1-1 has a porosity of 29%
and a permeability of 54 mD (Cai, 2005).

4.2. Data sources

A GIS-based database was built for the Cenozoic formations in
the PRMB. The data were compiled from published sources, including those from 31 wells. As available well data are insufcient for
depth and isopach mapping, published 23 regional seismic proles
(depth converted) and low-resolution isopach maps (e.g., the three

D. Zhou et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 308317

311

Fig. 2. Stratigraphic column of the Pearl River Mouth Basin.

isopach maps from Gong and Li, 1997, as well as the isopach maps
of the Baiyun Sag from Zhou et al., 2009) have been used to provide
additional data points. Resulting isopach maps are used for assessing the effective capacity (see Fig. 1 for data point distribution).
Water depths are from the Geographic Map of the South China Sea
published by South China Sea Institute of Oceanology (SCSIO) in
1983.

4.3. Formation volumes

For this assessment the Cenozoic formations of the PRMB are
divided into three super sequences: Paleogene (Wenchang, Enping,
and Zhuhai Formations), Early-Middle Miocene (Zhujiang and Hanjiang Formations), and Late Miocene to Holocene (Yuehai, Wanshan
Formations and Quaternary). On a GIS platform, their isopach maps
were constructed (Fig. 3), and their gross volumes and the volumes
below 800 m from the seaoor were calculated (Fig. 4 and Table 1).
In addition, volumes of the depth range 8002500 m, as suggested

to be a positive indicator by Chadwick et al. (2008), were also calculated. This reduced the volume by 15% for the Lower-Middle
Miocene and by as much as 65% for the Paleogene (Table 1).

4.4. Lithological parameters

Published data on the net/gross ratio, the porosity, and the permeability of the rocks in the PRMB are sparse and thus have to be
estimated based on several sets of incomplete or indirect data.
Stratigraphic columns from 6 wells in the Zhu-1 and Zhu-2
depressions have been used to measure the net/gross ratio. Simple averages of net/gross ratios in these wells are 0.36, 0.49, and
0.64 for the super layers of the Paleogene, Early to Middle Miocene,
and Upper Miocene to Holocene, respectively.
Data of oil-tested sandstone segments from 11 wells and of sampled segments from 7 wells of the eastern PRMB (east of longitude
113 E) are published in Tables 5-2, 5-3, and 5-4 of Chen et al. (2003).
The average values weighted by segment thickness are computed.

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D. Zhou et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 308317

Fig. 3. Isopach maps of the Pearl River Mouth Basin. (a) Sea water, (b) Upper Miocene to Quaternary, (c) Lower-Middle Miocene, and (d) Paleogene. Superimposed white
lines show the boundaries of depressions and sags.
Table 1
Areas and volumes of the super sequences in the Pearl River Mouth Basin.
Super sequence

Area (km2 )

Depth of top (m)

Thickness (m)

Volume (km3 )
Gross

800 m

800 to 2500 m

Paleogene
L.-M. Mioc.
U. Mioc. To Q
Total

197 290
174 856
30 185

02600
0700
0

01700
02500
0700

165 773
235 228
114 490
515 491

163 149
184 459
6242
353 850

56 924
157 288
6242
220 454

Petroleum systems have been delineated in the eastern PRMB,

and their parameters are listed in Table 8-2 of Chen et al. (2003).
Based on these data, the parameters of seals and reservoirs in
the formations of the eastern PRMB are calculated by thicknessweighted averaging (Table 2).
The parameters compiled from the above-mentioned sources
are compared in Table 3. The porosities and permeabilities are reasonably consistent, but the net/gross ratio varies signicantly. In
this capacity calculation, the net/gross ratios from 6 wells were
used.

4.5. CO2 density

The density of CO2 varies with formation temperature and pressure (Bachu, 2003). The PRMB is in general in a normal pressure
system. Overpressure is observed locally in deep-burring (>4600 m)
Wenchang and Enping formations (Gong and Li, 2004). Thus in this
paper we use the hydrostatic pressure to approximate the formation pressure.
The formation temperature depends on the surface temperature and geothermal gradient. The seaoor temperature of the

Table 2
Parameters of oil-tested sandstone segments from the wells in eastern PRMB (thickness-weighted averages based on tables 5-2, 5-3, and 5-4 in Chen et al., 2003).
Formation

Porosity (%)
Range

Zhujiang
Zhuhai
Enping

13.323.9
2.322.7
0.722.0

Permeability (mD)
Ave.
19.9
16.8
10.3

Range
20.22027.9
3.5913
0.0395

Net/gross ratio (%)

# of wells

92.6
87.8
No data

10
11
14

Ave.
916.5
318.0
7.0

D. Zhou et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 308317

313

Fig. 4. Isopach maps of the formation below 800 m from the seaoor in the Pearl River Mouth Basin (a) Upper Miocene to Quaternary, (b) Lower-Middle Miocene, and (c)
Paleogene. Superimposed white lines show the boundaries of depressions and sags.

northern SCS varies with water depth as shown in the inset of

Fig. 5. The thermal gradient varies across the PRMB in the range
of 26.250.6 C/km. A contour map of geothermal gradients in the
PRMB was compiled based the data of 75 wells (Fig. 5) from Rao

and Li (1991). The gradient is in general lower than 35 C/km in the

shallow-water Zhu 1 depression, while higher in the deep-water
Zhu 2 and shallow-water Zhu 3 depressions. Accordingly we divide
the basin into three regions (Fig. 5): the N-PRMB with relatively

Fig. 5. Contour map of geothermal gradient of the Pearl River Mouth Basin compiled based on drill hole measurements given in Rao and Li (1991) with minor additions.
Thick dashed line divides the basin into 3 districts for constructing CO2 density curves. Numbers show the average gradient (in C/km) for individual sags. Inset is a curve of
seaoor temperature in northern South China Sea measured by SCSIO.

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D. Zhou et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 308317

Table 3
Comparison of the reservoir parameters compiled from various data sources.
Porosity (%)
Hanjiang
Zhujiang

Zhuhai

Enping
a

Ave. 33.1
16.329.6a
Ave. 19.9
20.8
16.329.6a
Ave. 16.8
17.0
4.516.8
Ave. 10.3

Permeability
(mD)
a

1881732
Ave. 916.5
624.1
1881732a
Ave. 318.0
431
4.42434
Ave. 7.0

Net/gross
(%)

Data source

68.1
1030
92.6
53.3
1043
87.8
45.6

Chen et al. (2003)

Cai (2005)
Table 3
Chen et al. (2003)
Cai (2005)
Table 3
Chen et al. (2003)
Cai (2005)
Table 3

Table 4
CO2 density versus formation depth for the N-, S-, and SW-Pear River Mouth Basin.
N-PRMB

Parameters for combined Zhujiang and Hanjiang formations.

Therm. grad. ( C/km)

Seaoor temp. ( C)
Depth (m)
8001000
10001200
12001400
14001600
16001800
18002000
20002200
22002500
25003000
30004600
46006600

S-PRMB

34
20
CO2 density (kg/m3 )
288.9
386.3
460.1
504.5
528.5
543.6
556.0
565.7
574.5
589.0
599.5

SW-PRMB

40
8

40
20

334.3
422.7
467.6
495.6
513.4
524.4
530.2
532.4
535.4
542.8
548.4

267.6
348.5
414.3
455.1
478.7
494.6
507.1
519.0
531.0
545.0
555.5

4.6. Storage efciency factor

It is beyond the ability of this paper to estimate the storage efciency factor E for the PRMB. The USDOE Subgroup through Monte
Carlo simulations obtained a statistical distribution of E for deep
saline aquifers with P15, P50, and P85 probability level at E = 0.01
0.024, and 0.04 respectively (Bachu, 2008). Recent thematic study
(IEAGHG, 2009) suggests the overall mean value (P50) of E for all
lithologies being 0.026 at the formation level (Wildgust, 2010).
Combining these two results, in this paper we use E = 0.026 for mean
and E = 0.01 and 0.04 for P15 and P85 probability level, respectively.
4.7. Capacity calculation
On a GIS platform the effective capacity for CO2 storage in the
saline formations in the Pearl River Mouth Basin is estimated using
Eq. (1). In addition to the general assumptions stated in Section 2,
the following assumptions are made:
Fig. 6. Curves of CO2 density versus depth for N-, S-, and SW- Pearl River Mouth
Basin compiled based on the data in Fig. 5, parameters in Table 1, and values in
Table 45 of Span and Wagner (1996). Curves of Typical and Hot regions from
Chadwick et al. (2008) are also shown for comparison.

high seaoor temperature and low thermal gradient, the S-PRMB

with relatively low seaoor temperature and high thermal gradient,
and the SW-PRMB with both high seaoor temperature and high
thermal gradient. Curves of CO2 density versus formation depth
were constructed respectively for each region (Fig. 6) based on Span
and Wagner (1996). In Fig. 6 selected curves from other publications
are also presented for comparison. The increase rate of CO2 density
with depth in the PRMB is much slower than the 35 C/km curve of
GeoCapacity (2009), and in between the Typical and Hot curve
s of Chadwick et al. (2008).

(1) The Middle Miocene Hanjiang Formation forms the upper

regional seal, and the delta-front and transgressional mudstone
in the Zhujiang Formation form the lower regional seal;
(2) CO2 reservoirs mainly reside in the sandstones and limestones
of the Early Miocene Zhujiang and Zhuhai Formations, and
secondarily in Middle Miocene Hanjiang Formation and in
Oligocene Enping Formation;
(3) Because no data are available for the Wenchang Formation, its
parameters are assumed to be the same as those of the Enping
Formation.
Therefore, only the Paleogene (Wenchang and Enping) and
Lower-Middle Miocene (Zhuhai, Zhujiang, and Hanjiang) formations are considered in the capacity calculation. Eq. (1) is used in
the calculation with mean of E = 0.026, and 15% and 85% probability
level of E = 0.01 and 0.04, respectively.

Table 5
Parameters and capacity assessments for the saline formations in the Pearl River Mouth Basin.
Parameter
Volume below 800 m V (m3 )
Net/gross ratio R
Average porosity
CO2 density CO2 (t/m3 )
Effective capacity (Gt), >800 m

Effective capacity (Gt), 8002500 m

L.-M. Miocene

Paleogene

Total

E = 0.01
E = 0.026
E = 0.04
E = 0.01
E = 0.026
E = 0.04

187 000 109

0.5
0.2
As in Table 4
86
225
345
71
184
284

164 000 109

0.37
0.1
As in Table 4
32
83
128
10
26
40

118
308
473
81
210
324

D. Zhou et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 308317

As the CO2 density varies with depth, for each of the 3 districts
in Fig. 5 the formation body was cut into horizontal layers, and the
average CO2 densities for individual depth layers were read from
the curves in Fig. 6 and listed in Table 4. The volumes of these layers
in each super sequences in the 3 districts were calculated on a GIS
platform. Other parameters and estimations are listed in Table 5.
The mean, P15 and P85 probability level estimations of the effective
CO2 storage capacities in saline formations of the PRMB are 308 Gt,
118 Gt, and 473 Gt, respectively.

315

Table 6
Parameters and capacity assessments of CO2 in oil and gas elds of the Pearl River
Mouth Basin.
Parameter

Value

OOIP (t)
Oil density (t/m3 )
Recovery rate Rf
Volume factor Bf
CO2 density (t/m3 )
Efciency factor E
Capacity (t)

0.9 109
0.9
0.5
1.03
0.566
0.25
0.06 109

5. Capacity assessment of oil and gas elds

Up to 2009 there have been 200 wells drilled in the PRMB,
and 40 oil and gas elds have been found, with oil production
over 10 million m3 (63 million barrels) since 1996. The estimations of geological resources in the PRMB are 2.33.2 billion tons
(1723 billion barrels) oil equivalent (MLR, 2008), and proved
reserve (OOIP) is 0.9 billion tons (6.5 billion barrels) oil equivalent
(informal data).
The capacity of CO2 in oil and gas elds of the PRMB is estimated
using the Eq. (2). As there has been no water ooding in the PRMB,
Viw and Vpw are zero and (2) becomes:

MCO2t = CO2r Rf

OOIP
Bf

The oil elds in the PRMB have a high recovery rate, and a conservative estimation of Rf = 0.5 is used in our calculation. The crude
oil from the elds in the PRMB is light with average density of
900 kg/m3 and volume factor Bf = 1.021.05. The oil elds reside
mostly in the Zhu 1 depression and within 20003000 m depth,
only the LH11-1 eld in 12521330 m depth (Chen et al., 2003;
Zampetti et al., 2005). As the oil/gas reserves for individual elds
are not publicly available, we do not know the reserve values for the
3 districted in Fig. 5. Thus we have to calculate for the entire basin,
using the CO2 density of 565.7 kg/m3 , which is the CO2 density at
22002500 m depth in the N-PRMB (Table 4). There are very few
studies of E for oil and gas elds. A study by Bachu and Shaw (2005)
in western Canada estimated the capacity reduction in oil elds for
strong aquifer as 0.190.75 and in average 0.5, and for mobility and

other factors as 0.5. Thus E = 0.5 0.5 = 0.25, which is used in this
paper.
The parameters and estimated effective capacity are listed in
Table 6. The estimated effective storage of CO2 in the oil and gas
elds in the PRMB is 0.06 Gt. This is likely an underestimated number because the proved reserve is used in the estimation. As the
basin is still in the exploration stage, the un-proved reserve may
be large. For example, the newly estimated resource of the Zhu-1
depression alone reaches 5.9 billion tons oil equivalent (Shi et al.,
2009), and new gas elds have been discovered in the deepwater
Baiyun Sag of the Zhu-2 depression (Pang et al., 2007).

6. Storage prospectivity
At this preliminary stage, major concerns for assessing the storage prospectivity are the distribution of reservoirs and seals, the
distance from major emission sources (the Pearl River Delta), the
depth and size of possible reservoirs, and the possibility of CO2 -EOR.
Under these criteria, the most promising area for CO2 storage
in saline formations is the northern portion of the Lufeng and Hanjiang sags in the Zhu-1 depression (Fig. 7). In this area the Lower and
Middle Miocene formations are thick and with good reservoir-seal
assemblages (Fig. 4). A number of structural traps in the area have
been proved dry, among which the large ones may be the rst candidates for CO2 storage. The distance from Hongkong to this area is
between 150 and 300 km.

Fig. 7. Map showing the distribution of oil/gas elds in the Pearl River Mouth Basin. The promising area for CO2 storage in saline formations is indicated by red polygon. (For
interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of the article.)

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D. Zhou et al. / International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 5 (2011) 308317

The northern Xijiang Sag to the west is relatively dry and lies
even closer to the industrialized Pearl River Delta, but the sag has
been lled with large quantity of mostly sandy sediments from the
paleo-Pearl River system, and the sealing condition there is poor.
Within the promissing areas, reservoirs in the Middle Super
sequence (Lower and Middle Miocene) deserve special attention,
because they contain the most abundant, thick, and high quality sandstone or carbonate formations, covered by well developed
mudstone seals.
There may be some sandstone reservoirs in the Lower Super
Layer (Paleogene), but those continental formations are usually
deeper, less understood, and with poorer quality (lower porosity
and permeability due to diagenesis) and smaller capacity. These
make it a lower priority at this stage.
The storage prospectivity in oil and gas elds in the PRMB is
limited. Oil elds have been found in southern Huizhou and Lufeng
sags, southwestern Dongsha Uplift, northern Panyu Low Uplift,
southern Enping Sag, and the southeastern Wenchang Sag (Fig. 7).
Most elds are small but distributed as clusters and contain high
quality light oil. However the capacities in these oil elds are insufcient for large scale CO2 storage when compared to the size of
emission sources. The largest LH11-1 eld has a proved reserve
>100 Mt (>0.7 billion barrels) in porous carbonate reservoirs. It is
220 km SE of Hongkong.
The potential of CO2 -EOR in the PRMB is probably low, as
the oil elds have high recovery rate (over 50%) in general, and
strong water invasion occurs automatically during the production.
The gas elds so far discovered are usually large. For example,
the newly discovered LW3-1, LH34-2, and LH29-1 gas elds have
a proved reserve >100 109 m3 each, and the PY30-1 gas eld has
proved reserve of 30 109 m3 and started production in early 2009.
The produced gas has been transported to Zhuhai City through
underwater pipelines. A disadvantage for CO2 storage is that these
gas elds reside in deepwater areas, where the cost of drilling and
infrastructure are likely to be much higher. These elds have the
potential to be used as storage sites for CO2 only in a very long
term.

7. Conclusions
For the saline formations deeper than 800 m below seaoor in
the Pearl River Mouth Basin, the estimated effective capacity for
CO2 storage is 308 Gt in average, with P15 and P85 probability level
of 118 Gt and 473 Gt. If only the formations shallower than 2500 m
below the seaoor are considered, the estimated effective capacity
is reduced by 27%, 210 Gt in average, with P15 and P85 probability level of 81 Gt and 324 Gt. About 73% of the effective capacity
resides at depth <2500 m, and 88% of the effective capacity resides
in Lower-Middle Miocene formations.
The abovementioned effective capacity includes that in oil
and gas elds, which is very small (0.06 Gt). But this is a conservative estimate as newly proved and unproved elds are not
included.
According to this assessment, the deep saline formations in the
PRMB are able to storing 190 years of total CO2 emission from major
point sources in Guangdong, if 10% of the effective storage capacity may be used and if the total emission keeps the 2006 level of
160 Mt/a (Bai et al., 2006).
These estimates are of high uncertainty because they were
obtained based on published incomplete data, and with the
assumptions that all the formations are saline and all the pore space
may be lled with injected CO2 . Compared with the estimates for
other areas in the world, the estimated capacities for the saline formations in the PRMB are larger than those for the California state

(84311 Gt) (USDOE, 2008c), but the estimated effective capacity

for oil and gas elds in the PRMB is less than 1/100 of that for
California (7.7 Gt) (USDOE, 2008c).
The advantages common to all offshore storage of CO2 are
applicable to the PRMB, such as no interference with population,
agriculture, and industry, no damage to groundwater, and in technical issues such as the potential to manage pressure within the
geological formation (Schrag, 2009). The disadvantages of the PRMB
for CO2 storage are also common to all offshore storage sites, mainly
the higher cost of the infrastructures and engineering operations
compared with the onshore storage. But overall, storing CO2 in geological formations offshore may be easier, safer, and less expensive
(Schrag, 2009).
In addition, the advantages of the Pearl River Mouth Basin for
CO2 storage are:
(1) The mudstones in the Late Miocene Hanjiang Formation
and the upper Middle Miocene Zhujiang Formation form
excellent regional seals. Frequent sealevel uctuation in Neogene resulted in multi-layers of local seals. Sandstones and
limestones are wide spread in the Neogene and upper Paleogene formations, forming promising reservoirs. Multiple
seal-reservoir assemblages have been proved by hydrocarbon
exploration.
(2) Extensive data and infrastructure (wells, pipelines, etc.) have
been accumulated during a long period of exploration and may
be used for CO2 storage.
(3) Proximal to major CO2 point sources in the Pearl River Delta.
As there is little capacity for CO2 storage in onshore Guangdong,
the high potential for CO2 storage in the Pearl River Mouth Basin is
even more important to the Guangdong Province.
As the hydrocarbon exploration is still going on in the PRMB,
the initial stage of CO2 storage should be concentrated on known
dry traps in areas where the hydrocarbon source rocks are less
developed. In consideration of the distribution of reservoirs and
seals, the distance from major emission sources in the Pearl River
Delta, and the depth and size of possible reservoirs, the promising
areas for CO2 storage should be considered rst are the Zhuhai and
Zhujiang formations in the northern Lufeng and Hanjiang sags of
the Zhu-1 depression. A detailed study on the dry traps in these
areas should be conducted to identify target traps and their capacity. Additional data such as seal maps, reservoir maps, pressure,
temperature, CO2 density, irreducible water saturation, etc. should
be collected to make more accurate estimation for the CO2 storage
capacity in these traps.
Acknowledgements
The study is funded by the Tactical Fund for Low Carbon and
High Growth and administered by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Ofce. The authors are indebted to Wayne Ives, Bill Senior,
Jonathan Pearce, as well as Stefan Bachu and anonymous reviewers
for their valuable suggestions on improving the manuscript.
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