A 2017 study demonstrating that saline and depleted hydrocarbon storage reservoirs within a storage complex can store industrial CO2 emissions safely, permanently, and economically.

The study was part of the CarbonSAFE Initiative.  It was conducted by the University of Texas at Austin, partnered with the DOE.

It sought to identify near-offshore storage resources on the inner shelf of the Gulf of Mexico in the range of 50+ million metric tons of CO2.

It identified specific injection reservoirs and evaluated the change from CO2 use for enhanced oil recovery to large-volume storage in saline formations.