Carbon TerraVault (CTV) FAQs

We are meeting an obvious need for our home state. Governor Newsom has made it clear CCS is vital to meet state climate objectives. CTV I will soon start to capture up to 100,000 metric tons of CO₂ annually from the Elk Hills cryogenic gas plant. The California Energy Commission has called Elk Hills “one of the premier CO₂ sequestration sites in the U.S.”

CTV I – including reservoirs “26R” and “A1-A2” – is capable of storing up to 1.6 million metric tons of CO₂ annually, equivalent to removing the annual emissions of nearly 400,000 passenger vehicles or offsetting more than 200,000 American households’ energy use.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for establishing and enforcing regulations associated with injecting and storing CO₂ underground. In 2010, the EPA established a new class of well, Class VI, to accommodate and validate the safe implementation of CCS technology.

Complementing the industry-wide oversight provided by federal and regional agencies, CRC has a proven track record of utilizing prevailing design, construction, and maintenance practices while safely operating in 65 oil and gas fields with 11,000+ miles of piping infrastructure throughout California.

To tackle climate change, the world will need to take an all-of-the-above approach. We’re doing our part and have built carbon capture into our long-term company strategy, which is based on general expectations that there will be many more decades of oil consumption to fuel the needs of California and the world.

We have filed for multiple permits to build more CCS projects in California, and we’re spending a lot of time and resources to show that CCS works. We’re also looking for partners to provide us with more sources of CO₂ to capture.

Every aspect of CTV I is designed under EPA, state, and local regulatory oversight, with rigorous monitoring and verification standards in place. CO₂ will be injected more than a mile underground, isolated from drinking water. Continuous monitoring ensures long-term integrity and safety of the storage reservoir.

A CTV carbon storage project has a robust monitoring program designed to minimize potential impacts to the environment. For example, the program includes both deep and shallow groundwater monitoring wells, while monitoring air quality, vegetation health, and seismic activity (see CTV I – 26R monitoring here). Monitoring reports are completed on a semi-annual basis and submitted to the EPA.
In addition, CTV has an Emergency and Remedial Response Plan, developed in coordination with the EPA, to address and implement safeguards against potential environmental impacts. Financial instruments, such as project insurance, are in place to provide added protection to address environmental impacts associated with the project.

These reservoirs have been in place for many millions of years. The reservoirs were resilient enough over the millennia to allow the oil and gas to form.

Financial responsibility for monitoring and maintenance of a carbon storage project is required by law and maintained during injection and throughout the post-injection period. The post-injection period is determined by the timeframe required to ensure that there is no risk for CO₂ leakage.

CTV has a robust post-injection monitoring system in place that closely monitors the un-derground storage reservoir and groundwater to ensure there is no leakage, as well as on-going monitoring of air quality, surface and surrounding vegetation, and subsurface integrity.

The robust monitoring protocol follows established schedules for field inspections and monitoring equipment maintenance and assessment. CRC will communicate monitoring results to the EPA once the project begins injection and failure to provide those reports would compromise our license to operate under the Class VI permit.

In the unlikely event that CO₂ is detected outside of the approved containment or monitoring locations, CRC is responsible for initiating the response, in compliance with the Emergency and Remedial Response Plan. The operator must promptly notify, communicate with, and coordinate response actions with the EPA.

When a project is ready to be permanently sealed, a report will be submitted to the EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for approval and will also be made available to the public.

CRC operates a well-established program for managing idle wells and has historically plugged and abandoned idle wells at a rate faster than that required by law.

Each existing well in a carbon storage project undergoes a thorough review by the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) for abandonment, including evaluation of the well’s construction, operational history, and plugging procedures. CalGEM reviews and approves the plugging and abandonment to ensure it meets all regulatory standards.

During the Class VI review process the EPA reviews the abandoned well to confirm that it does not serve as a potential pathway for fluid migration and that the proposed abandonment plan protects underground sources of drinking water. This multi-agency oversight ensures that wells are permanently sealed in a safe, environmentally protective, and compliant manner.

Carbon TerraVault (CTV) FAQs