In the past year, publications on CO2, natural gas, and hydrogen storage have increasingly focused on the design, evaluation, and optimization of storage plans. These efforts encompass a broad spectrum of challenges and innovations, including the expansion of storage reservoirs from depleted gas fields and saline aquifers to stratified carbonate formations and heavy-oil reservoirs. Key priorities include enhancing injectivity and deliverability, boosting storage capacity and recovery efficiency, and safeguarding long-term containment.
Optimizing storage plans extends beyond standalone CO2 storage operations. Integrating CO2 storage operations with existing field operations—such as enhanced oil and gas recovery, wastewater disposal, and other injection activities—could lower costs. For example, simultaneous CO2/brine injection or water-alternating-gas schemes in existing wastewater-disposal wells could reduce unit costs by leveraging the extensive wastewater-injection infrastructure in North America.
Concurrently, hydrogen storage in porous media is gaining intense interest, particularly within the research community. The research efforts are centered on improving storage performance by deepening understanding of the dynamic flow behavior, leakage mechanisms, and microbial activities of hydrogen and the dynamic response of the storage complex during injection and withdrawal using coupled numerical simulations, laboratory tests, and artificial intelligence. To accelerate early deployment, blending hydrogen with natural gas in existing underground gas storage facilities is also investigated.
It is clear that subsurface storage of CO2, natural gas, and hydrogen shares core technical themes: development optimization, containment assurance, and operational excellence. As technologies diffuse across the storage of the three different gases—and as storage is more tightly integrated with other field operations—the commercialization of CO2 and hydrogen storage is likely to accelerate, strengthening the role of subsurface storage in the emerging low-carbon energy system.
Summarized Papers in This March 2026 Issue
SPE 224197 SCCO2/Brine Injection or WAG Couple With Saltwater-Disposal Wells for Carbon Sequestration by Stella I. Eyitayo, SPE, and Marshall C. Watson, SPE, Texas Tech University
SPE 225606 Study Explores Storage of Hydrogen/Natural Gas Mixtures in Underground Gas Repositories by Tianjia Huang, SPE, George J. Moridis, SPE, and Thomas A. Blasingame, SPE, Texas A&M University
SPE 225484 UK CO2 Transportation, Storage Project Reaching Final Investment Decision Provides Lessons by Hans Sizoo, SPE, Ben Kek, and Alex Tait, BP, et al.
Recommended Additional Reading
SPE 228347 A Systematic Review of Underground Hydrogen Storage in the United States: Technical, Economic, and Future Insights by Bilal Ibrahim, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, et al.
SPE 224206 Technoeconomic and Life-Cycle Assessments of Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage in Blue Hydrogen Production by A.D. Ameyaw, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, et al.
SPE 228011 SPE CO2 Storage Work Group: Lessons From Managing Competitive Cross‑Industry Technical Collaboration by Harpreet Singh, Independent Consultant, et al.
Kaibin Qiu, SPE, is a geomechanics adviser at SLB. He has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and has worked on many consulting projects in Malaysia, Iran, Egypt, Libya, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and China. Qiu holds a BS degree in hydraulic and hydropower engineering and an MS degree in geotechnical engineering, both from Tsinghua University in China. In recent years, he has been involved in applying reservoir geomechanics for the exploration and development of high-pressure/high-temperature reservoirs, deep water, tight oil, tight gas, shale gas, and methane hydrate. Beyond geomechanics, Qiu also specializes in drilling engineering, integrated seismic to stimulation solutions for unconventionals, carbon capture and storage, and geothermal. He has authored more than 40 technical papers. Qiu is an Executive Editor for the peer-reviewed SPE Journal. He is also a member of the JPT Editorial Review Board.
