In this study, potential storage sites in the subsurface of the North Sea are analyzed to estimate the available CO₂ storage capacity. In total 441 sites in five countries (United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands and Germany) are studied in terms of geophysical characteristics and potential capacity. Instead of a simple volume-based approach that tends to over-estimate capacity, we consider storage limited by the time-dependent pressure increase in each injection well. We used literature data to estimate the geological and physical properties of the storage formations. The study confirmed a tremendous potential for CO₂ storage approaching 440 Gt with a possible injection rate of 22 Gt yr⁻¹. The United Kingdom can potentially store more than 230 Gt of CO₂ over 30 years, a value 20 times higher than its current emissions, while the same scales apply for the Netherlands with 147 Gt CO₂ potential. The thirteen oil and gas fields examined in Denmark are able to store around 4 Gt of CO₂ over three decades at a rate of 127 Mt yr⁻¹ covering more than twice the current emissions, while Norway can store 48 Gt from just 10 large saline aquifers. Despite the potential uncertainties in the data, there is sufficient capacity for CO₂ storage to play a significant role in Europe to avert a temperature increase of more than 1.5 °C this century.

在这项研究中，分析了北海地下的潜在封存地点，以估计可用的 CO ₂封存容量。在地球物理特征和潜在容量方面，对五个国家（英国、丹麦、挪威、荷兰和德国）总共 441 个站点进行了研究。与倾向于高估容量的简单的基于体积的方法不同，我们认为存储受到每个注入井中随时间变化的压力增加的限制。我们使用文献数据来估计存储地层的地质和物理特性。该研究证实了接近 440 Gt 的CO ₂储存的巨大潜力，可能的注入速率为 22 Gt yr ^-1。英国可能储存超过 230 Gt 的二氧化碳₂超过 30 年，该值是其当前排放量的 20 倍，而同样的比例适用于具有 147 Gt CO ₂潜力的荷兰。在丹麦检查的 13 个油气田能够在 30 年内以 127 Mt yr ^-1的速度储存约 4 Gt 的 CO ₂，覆盖当前排放量的两倍多，而挪威仅可以从 10 个大型盐水中储存 48 Gt含水层。尽管数据存在潜在的不确定性，但 CO ₂储存有足够的能力在欧洲发挥重要作用，以避免本世纪温度升高超过 1.5 °C。